Bird bath mirror fun

2010 October

Above two images, December 2010. 

Those are Sunbirds I had noticed this enjoying itself in front of the scooter's mirror.  Having seen their curiosity I had wanted to place a mirror there for them.  After more than two years I implemented now.  But to have some fun with other birds - to see how they react to the mirror at the bird bath itself, which is almost at the open scooter shed.  

Red-whishered Bulbuls are regular visitors to the bath.  A couple came as usual and noticed this new object, investigated, sat on it and made sure there was no danger from it.  Both of them seemed to agree. .

Before splashing, one of them positioned itself right in front of it, on the brim of the bath, spread its wings as it made a peculiar sound a few times.  I may interpret this as a pleasure sound, which I had not observed any of these do before!  It was now seeing 'another bird'!  It was a funny reaction.  I could not photograph it.  

Splashing happily!

After the dip-splash, they sit on another twig higher up - which I have also provided - and wriggle the water from their wings. 

I will shift the mirror to the wall in the shed where the tailor birds and sunbirds like to go.  There are branches  of the Holmskioldia shrub which has its feet in the shed and 'limbs' growing outside and through a gap left between the compound and roof of the shed.  They like these branches.  So I will hang it near here and see what they do.  I have also provided a horizontal stick [which can be seen in the picture above] in front of the mirror for them to sit and look at themselves.  Let me see.  

A Stone Bird Bath At Last!

I wanted to make another bird bath project even though my triangular one had become a well known spot for the birds.  I borrowed an idea from another DIY project on a website and it appeared simple to do.  I made one from cement, using a lampshade for the curvature of the trough.

Upside down, wet cement.

Lampshade I used for the trough curvature.

The project came out nicely, but I did not keep it for long.  For some unknown reason, the birds that were so frequently visiting the triangular bird bath in that same spot before seemed to stay away.  I was puzzled.  Was it too shallow?  Was it too small?  What was missing?  Someone had told that it takes some time for the birds to get accustomed to changes or to spot their places for water.

Changes in the family front was on course and I was to move into my new garden area.  So I put back the old triangular bird bath and again, the birds welcomed it!

Within a few weeks of making my circular birdbath that was surprisingly rejected by the birds, we came across a stone smith who had to be urgently summoned to break a mammoth grinding stone during the construction of a new house in our plot.

The stone was in line with the wall.  It had to be removed.  The idea of lifting it out of the ground was dropped because it was bulky, heavy and strong.  How strong it was, was proved by the stone smith as he broke a few chisels, trying to break it into two, to lift up the top portion which was the intended plan. After two days of hammering, he was finally able to crack it, but the crack came upwards.  So it was further broken there and the large pieces had to be used as foundation for the compound wall in its line!

It was that grinding stone and its position which brought this stone smith to us who was to give me and the birds a fine bird bath based on Sadanand's model.

There were also now more nice stones to choose from, since many had been removed from the old structure that was pulled down to give way for a new house.  By that time, I had been well convinced about the value of a bird bath in the garden, more importantly for the birds and then experiencing the joy of watching them enjoy it.

Gurumurthy, the stone smith agreed to it the way I wanted and the technical design Sadananda had explained me.  He had said that some birds would first like to feel the shallow depth and then feel safe. So, a slope in its floor was necessary since it was rectangular.  One inch deep at one end and going deeper to two inches at the other end.  The stone size was about 18"x12".  A fee was fixed for the job. I was now bent upon getting it done even if he quoted high!  

I chose that slab and Gurumurthy, is seen cutting the desired piece.

Tap, tap, tip tap..... It was time-consuming work to chip out the rectangular basin.

New and old. I later kept aside the triangular bath.  

I asked Gurumurthy himself to 'inaugurate' it with its first fill of water.  It was on New Year's day, 2011. My bird bath should be good enough to last for 300 years.  Granite!

Bulbul having a dip.

Now it is used by many.

A Mynah in it.  It must have been warm because the Mynah is not a frequent dipper.

A Squirrel having a fill.

Once you watch their need for water, you will realize how important water is for them also and how long this little service can go.  It is a satisfying feeling. 

New idea for a stone bird bath

When I visited my elderly friend Sadanand's garden he showed me a beautiful rectangular stone bird bath.  There was even a Robin taking a dip at that time.   Instantly I dreamed of one in my garden since there were many granite stones lying around.  Soon, I inquired a stone smith for this project and was very disappointed when he quoted an exorbitant price for the job.  For a while I had dropped the idea.

Mrs. Yadugiri, an amazing old lady, a wonderful neighbour for more than five decades had to move out of town some years ago.  She had a green thumb and an avid gardener in her small yard.

Mrs. Y in 2007, when we visited her.  She left all of us in 2009.  

Before Yadugiri and her family left Mysore, she had given me a stone mortar which she used to grind material to prepare her 'traditional medicines'.  I kept this in the garden as a 'bird bath' and much to my joy, it found quick acceptance. 

A couple of Spotted Doves seemed to enjoy that.  This is a scene from my old garden.

A Magpie Robin was routinely taking a dip in it.

The stone trough brought from our old home had been planted with water lilies, another inspirational idea from the websites under 'water gardens'.  Koels, Mynahs, Doves and Pigeons had chosen this for their water requirement.  A male Koel is looking around if the ground was clear before bending to take its sip.

One fine day a brilliant idea struck on the lines of Sadanand's bird bath.  I thought why all the trouble of scooping out stone?  Why not build a little cement wall around to hold water on the stone?  Now I set about searching for a stone that was not suitable for anything else. An odd shaped triangular slab was chosen and almost immediately sat on the job that evening.

Set to cure.

Got it painted.

Our locality fortunately has some greenery and hence many birds thrive.  As my 'yarden' also has some greenery, they stop by.  The birds somehow find their water sources and they soon found one here. I had placed the bird bath strategically close to my room window so that I could observe from a close range. The birds are extremely sensitive.  They protect themselves by flying away at the slightest hint of danger.  So when I had to photograph, I had to open the mesh window, but had to be very careful not to make even any slight movement or sound.  I had to be absolutely still if I had to capture a picture from about 7-8 feet.

Some pictures:

The Great Tit is wondering about the low level of water!  I had failed to fill it to the brim.

The Female Sunbird is a rare dipper. Only once I saw it dipping in water, at least when I was around.

I had observed that the Robin and Bulbul liked a little more water even when it was brim-full. 

So I raised the brim as you can see here.  Red whiskered Bulbul enjoying.

This is a male Koel, sipping some water.

Crow pheasant, Robin, Koel and Bulbul in the above collage of pictures.

My idea of making such a bird bath was working fine. It is such a joy to see the birds, visit, look around if they are secure, feel and play in water, perch on something near it and dry their wings before flying off.  Some varieties drink but do not dip. Some only dip but do not drink.  Anyhow, it is a great boon to them esp. on warm days.  We will be doing our little bit if we provide some water source for these beautiful creatures that are so important to our ecology. 

In my next post, you will see my dream coming to fruition - the rectangular stone bird bath.

My flopped bird bath

My workplace is a heritage palace building.  There are pillared courtyards in it.  All the three courtyards have a fountain cum birdbath in the centre. One of them was right in front of my workplace door.  I have always admired this beautiful setting and dreamt of having at least a bird bath after the gardening bug had bit me.

This beautiful vintage fountain [Made in Glasgow] is not used regularly for reasons of water conservation.  Entry to birds to the courtyards were blocked with mesh since many decades because of their disturbance in various ways.

When internet first arrived, I had seen pictures of bird baths on Dave's Garden and also on a site called 'Better Homes and Gardens' .  Many gardeners across the world had installed bird baths in their gardens.  I too wanted to have one.  There were many impressive DIY [do it yourself] projects that were simple and beautiful in the latter site.  I did make one myself from one such DIY project, from junked items.

See this rare picture I had captured.  Rare because I think this must be the only time when a bird, a Robin here had got on it!  I was so happy to capture an image as I was out in the garden with my new camera at that time!  Can you read the disappointment writ large in the Robin's posture and expression?

This project turned out to be an utter flop and that Robin confirmed it!  I came to know later that the birds do not get attracted to glitter but prefer the rustic and natural settings.  The steel plate I had used was very shallow too!  All I did was clean and replace new water often, thus exposing the shiny plate!  This worthless exercise went on for sometime and then I put it away, disgusted.

I looked for fresh ideas while I just watched the birds chirp around happily in the yard.  But I was determined to provide water for the birds' welfare.