Winter is upon us, and both you and your feathered friends will no doubt feel the effects of it. Birds need water in winter, just as they do any time of year, but providing it for them when it’s freezing out can be a challenge. So what can you do to keep your birds with a fresh supply of water in their birdbath when the mercury plummets?
While birds can—and do—melt snow and ice to drink, liquid water is safer and easier for them. Melting snow requires energy, energy which they need to forage for food when sources are scarce. Drinking barely melted water cools a bird’s body temperature, making them sluggish and more vulnerable to predators, cold snaps, and other threats. If you keep your bird bath from freezing, however, birds will happily visit the easy water source and you will enjoy a wide range of feathered guests all winter long.
Easy Tips to Keep Your Bird Bath From Freezing
There are different, easy steps that can keep your birdbath from freezing. How many steps you need to take and their effectiveness will depend on just how cold it gets and how long cold snaps last, but every drop of water you can offer to birds will be helpful. Prepare your bath for chilly nights as soon in the season as possible.
Position for Warmth. Move the bath into a sunny spot where it can absorb solar heat and it will stay liquid for longer. At the same time, be sure it is positioned near a windbreak for added protection.
Darken the Surface. Darker surfaces absorb heat more efficiently. Adding a few black river rocks, a black plate, or a sheet of black plastic to the bottom of the bath’s basin can help the water absorb heat and stay liquid.
Add an Icebreaker. Breaking the thin films of ice that form on the surface will help keep the whole bath liquid. Float a small ball in the basin and the wind will blow it across the surface to break the ice. A dark ball will also act as a small heat absorber for more anti-freezing efficiency.
Turn on the Heat. Adding an outdoor-rated immersion heater to a birdbath can keep the water temperature just warm enough to keep from freezing. These heaters require a nearby outlet or outdoor extension cord but are energy-efficient and easy to use. Check with your local garden center or online retailer for options.
Keep It Full. No matter what technique you use to keep your birdbath from freezing, keeping the basin full will help keep the water liquid. Smaller amounts of water freeze more quickly, and heaters can malfunction if there isn’t enough water in the bath.
Love to read your paper and find it very entertaining and helpful. I have to reply to an article recently titled “a scab that won’t heal” by John Marshall. I respect every ones view but not when it is filled with hate, disrespect, and down right lies. It also is filled with belittling and demeaned our elected officials. Mr John Marshall only repeats the lies by the media and is down right pushing their evil agenda. Kansas chose to elect Mr. Trump as our president along with Mr. Marshall. So he is tromping on a lot of our GOD given rights. Our President Trump did not in no way incite the media’s “so called insurrection”. I just hope that you have better taste in the future in choosing who your columnist are. Someone who dont be little and demean with the hate and implication of lies he expressed in this article. It certainly dont represent the majority of your readers and it certainly will not heal any scabs.