Attract Birds To Your Place and keep them Coming - Part 2

Once some birds notice your bird bath or water bowl, they'll spread the word very quickly and other birds will also try it out. 

There are a few things you must do to keep them coming:

1. Clean the bird bath and refresh the water daily: if you can, if not, then every second day.  A bristle brush is ideal to scrub the sides, followed by a rinse with fresh water.  This is a necessary step, or else water will get stagnant, even mouldy, certainly filthy and eventually become a source of disease.

if you have placed a big stone or rock in the middle of the bowl to stop it from tipping over, you may find that this will get mouldy over time.  When that happens its best to have a couple of stones, and use them alternately, that gives each one the chance to dry out before being used again.

If the bird bath is not cleaned and refreshed regularly, the birds will stop coming as this will no longer be a viable drinking spot for them.

2. Observe Your Visitors:  Make a note of which birds have started to visit your place.  Are they able to drink comfortably? 

Depending on the size and location of the bird bath, some birds may be too big, others may be too small.  You may want to introduce a water bowl that is more suitable for their use.  If you have the space, you may want to have second water bowl, so the larger and smaller birds are both able to enjoy their visits.

3.Give Them A Feed:  Once you know which birds are coming you may like to also give them a feed.  The suitable diet will vary depending on the bird, and it is best to check with the local pet store or wildlife organisation as to the dos and don'ts for the common species in your area.

There are a few different reasons for giving them food.  If you live a naturally lush region, the birds do not need you to feed them to survive.  But, you are trying to make friends with them.  Birds are social creatures, just like humans.  And just as well like having coffee and cake with our friends, so do they. 

If you are living in extreme climate conditions, then the birds survival too will depend on the food and they will see you as a benefactor and a special friend.

Enjoying your hospitality, gives them the message, that this human is bird friendly and can be trusted. Your place then becomes a nice place for them to dine and wine and spend their their time with their family and friends. Your home starts to becomes one of their favourite places. 

They see you caring for them, every time you refresh the water and food. They begin caring for you. (Many people have bird baths and feed birds, but they don't discover this about the birds because they don't take their relationship to the next level. We will be looking at these relationship building steps in future posts.)

Feeding them is a very important step as you want to take your friendship further.  In the beginning it looks as if  they come for the food, but in reality as you begin to know them you will find that they are coming for you. The food is just a convenient excuse and an inherent social activity.

These first simple steps in attracting the birds and in keeping them coming to your place are also the first steps in building trust. In tomorrow's post we will look at the major elements of building trust, because that is where relationships start to form.

I hope you are enjoying these series of articles.

If you would like to know more about  23 Amazing Facts About Wild Bird Culture with true stories - click on this link and enter your details.

To read the earlier articles in this blog challenge click here.

Until tomorrow,

Cheers

Gitie