A date with winged visitors
|
Bird baths are ideal for nature lovers, who have no time or space to have pets, writes Hema Vijay
|
— Photo: N. Sridharan
Avian spot: Terracotta birdbaths are the centres of attraction in a garden:
How would you fancy the company of a few yellow beaked robins, some grey pigeons, tiny babblers, bright sunbirds, and crows of course? Well, it can be achieved - with some effort, and even without the stifling confines of a cage. The idea is to lure them to your homes with bird baths.
Bird baths are very easy to maintain and can occupy very little space if you so desire, says landscape architect Navneeth Raghavan. Terra cotta birdbaths are available from Rs. 250 upwards along the shops on ECR road. Or, you can custom make your bird baths in stone or concrete. "The texture of the bird bath is very important. The surface shouldn’t be shiny and slippery, so granite and porcelain don’t work well for bird baths. To get over this problem, you might add a rough edge to the bird bath perhaps with white cement, which will serve as a surface for the birds to perch on", Navneeth suggests. Keep in mind that water should not be filled up to the brim of the bird bath; there should be some space for the birds to perch on. The depth of the bird bath can be as little as to contain 2 inches of water in the centre, with a maximum of 6 inches, Navneeth says. As for the surface area, it can be as tiny or as big as you like. A shallow and gradually deepening birdbath is ideal. Maintenance involves mandatory changing of water every alternate day (to prevent mosquito larvae from breeding in water). The bird bath should also be scrubbed clean once in 3 months.
Bird baths can be the centre of attraction in a garden, Navneeth Raghavan says. Bird baths are ideal for those nature lovers among us who have no time or space to have pets. It is perhaps a way to give back some space in our urban landscape to our avian friends whom we have been driving away. But be prepared for bird droppings messing up the place. To get over the sense of unsightliness, place the bird bath in a grassy area, so the droppings will vanish as nutrients taken up by the plants, says bird watcher and photographer S. Venkatraman. Another way to get rid of the bird-dropping problem is to place the bird bath on a narrow beam or bar that protrudes out from your balcony, so the birds don’t venture right into your balcony. If you place bird feed like grains in a dry container nearby, you will get to watch batches of visitors, starting off with crows, followed by squirrels, babblers, and sunbirds. On the negative side, wet, cooked food particles can attract flies. For ensuring safety of these birds we are inviting in, place the bird bath on an elevation or pedestal, which will ensure a clear and open area around it, free of hiding locations for predators like cats. If possible, add a perch overhead to provide a place for the bird to fly up to.
Once you have this set up, wake up at day break and sit back; keep still and get ready to receive some avian visitors. Their flying visits can leave you thrilled. You would never get as near to them as this, not even in a wetland.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
