It is odd, me thinks, that during the hot summer you rarely see birds bathing in the waterfalls... they drink a lot but bathing is rare. I've commented to Ginger about this a number of times but have no idea why that would be. I was thinking about this today and for a while was pondering if Joe might be the deterrent to summer baths. I think not as I've seen this behavior PJ (pre-Joe). What ever the reason these guys sure seem to enjoy the bath time. They particularly like the waterfalls, Humpty Dumpty Falls is the current favorite although the picture of the sparrows is at Joe's Station.
The picture on the left are sparrows. They get all excited and splash an amazing amount of water. This water is cold, about 45 degrees or so and dropping. The birds seem not to notice. The picture on the right are the who-who birdies (who-who birdie definition) having a splash. Sometimes the who-who's act like ducks and actually swim in the water for short distances and then fly away like they got scared. Maybe they had a flashback of Joe looking for lunch. They also like to stretch their wings. You will see them hang'n around and then one will lean to one side and extend the wing on the "high side." Kind of odd looking and sometimes they will leave the wing extended for half a minute or so. Just showing off their feathery wing pit I guess.
This past spring I saw a "new to our world bird" try and take a bath in the waterfall. As soon as it started fluttering and splashing the current took it over the falls and into the pond. Plop! Splash! The little guy flapped about for about half a second and then was airborne and gone. Probably hasn't bathed since. It was pretty funny to watch and gave me a good laugh. Like most events concerning the pond they happen very fast and if you blink you may miss it.In my opinion the Robin Redbreast gets the award for enjoying bath time the most. They will splash around for minutes at a time and usually leave with wet heads and feathers that look like a bad hair day. After their bath they will perch on a tree or the pergola and preen. We don't see them very often. They don't seem to care about the bird feeder so maybe we don't have much to draw them. The do like to peck around in the garden. We bought worms for the raised garden right after I built it and the robins were there in a flash trying to dig them up. How did they know we added worms? D'ya think they were spy'n on us? They didn't get 'em all as we now have worms in the garden but you have to dig for them.
As we move into the short days and long cold nights I look forward to Joe's return in April or May. I hope she does come back. I don't suppose the birds will miss her if she doesn't find our place.
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