4 Way to Make Sure your Bird Bath is Safe
Bird baths are an excellent way to provide your feathered friends with a much needed water source, especially over the warmer months. However, there can be some threats that can be dangerous to birds taking a quick dip or stopping for a drink.
You’ll be happy to hear that these dangers can easily be avoided once you have the right knowledge, to ensure that your birdbath is safe and beneficial for your garden visitors. Read on to find out what hazards there may be and how to steer clear of any mishaps.
Diseases
A main hazard to bird health is the spread of bacteria leading to disease and bird baths can unfortunately be a hotspot for these germs. Water can become contaminated if a poorly bird chooses to bathe or drink in your garden oasis which can go on to infect other visitors.
How to Help
Frequent cleaning of bird baths is essential. Luckily, there are plenty of bird-safe hygiene and cleaning products to keep your bird bath spotless and free from bacteria. For a deep clean, the Safe4 Concentrate Disinfectant Cleaner is a non-toxic, water-based disinfectant that kills most viruses and fungi. Here at GWD, we regularly use Biological Cleaner Spray – an easy way to clean bird baths hygienic in between deep cleans. Make sure you regularly change the water in your birdbath to remove any potential contamination and also clean the areas around your birdbath, to keep your feathered friends in tip top health.
Lack of Water
It is important to make sure that you keep your bird bath topped up with fresh, clean water as your birds can come to rely on this source of refreshment. Particularly in the warmer months, when natural water sources become scarce, bird baths are essential to ensure that birds stay hydrated and cool.
How to Help
Particularly in the warmer months, make sure you are regularly refilling your bird bath with fresh, cool water. Choosing a bird bath with a larger capacity is an easy way to make sure your birds have access to a larger pool of refreshing water. Here are some of our favourites:
Predators
Drinking and bathing birds may be distracted and less aware of nearby potential predators, making them vulnerable. If you or your neighbours have cats, this is a danger to particularly be aware of.
How to Help
Avoid placing your bird bath within 3 feet of cover a potential predator could skulk behind, so that they cannot conceal themselves from oblivious bathing birds. High bird baths can help minimise the threat of ground predators – these ones are on a pole so keep birds elevated above danger.
Frozen bird baths
Although bird baths are essential for birds during the summer months, their value during colder days shouldn’t be overlooked. Harsh winter months mean birds need as much support as we can give them, so providing a fresh water source is incredibly helpful to their survival. Although birds can melt snow and ice to drink, this uses up precious energy, meaning a frozen bird bath isn’t much use. Drinking just melted water can make birds sluggish and more vulnerable to a range of threats, so it is important to try and avoid this happening.
How to Help
Avoid placing your bird bath within 3 feet of cover a potential predator could skulk behind, so that they cannot conceal themselves from oblivious bathing birds. High bird baths can help minimise the threat of ground predators – these ones are on a pole so keep birds elevated above danger.
Gemma Sharp is the resident writer for Garden Bird, a supplier of premium bird food and accessories. She has had a genuine love for our feathered friends from a young age, and has dedicated a lot of her time to learning all there is to know about them. If you’re struggling to pick the right bird feed for your garden, need help identifying a type of wild bird, or can’t decide where to put a nesting box, Gemma is the person to go to! She is passionate about sharing her years of learnt knowledge with the public. In her free time, she can be found feeding birds at home with her three young boys.
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