Hello Michael and Jim,
I have such a setup with the drippig system, and have three levels, so it
is also a fountain. The dripping water what attracts the birds. On the
bottom i have a Garbage lid where the water finaly goes. All the
containers are verry shallow and i also have some stones in between.The
most imported factor here is the habitat around such a set up.All my birds
can disappear in a second in to the bashes or in to thehugh Birch tree.One
have to realy look at such design to see how many birds running water can
create. I also have a smal mister this for the Hummigbirds, but thre
sitting direct on the dripper so the chickadees. Yesterday as i got back
from looking for Dragonflies there where two males Wilson's, warbler
splashing the water , but also verry alert when i try to get the photo
there going right back in to the in to the bushes. It took 3 attemt to
finaly got some photos of both birds together.Almost all the birds going
here in to the birdbath including Townsend's Warblers both Kinglets and
even our Downy Woodpeckers.
Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma

----------
> From: Michael Price <mprice at mindlink.bc.ca>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: The DPaulson Water Test
> Date: Monday, May 24, 1999 8:17 PM
>
> Hi Tweets,
>
> Jim Rosso writes:
>
> >Inspired by the account from Dennis about the warblers flocking to the
> >bubbling fountain
> (snip)
>
> In Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver BC, there's a small creek running
into
> a display pond. Upstream, near where it issues fom the city water supply
> source, there are several flat rocks at water's edge, a small backwater
pool
> and some branches very close to the ground. I noted that many passerines
> including migrant warblers used this pool. As, like Jim, I've never seen
a
> warbler use a conventional birdbath, I'd think that perhaps they require
> running or dripping water at or near ground level with convenient
branches
> nearby from which to suss out the safety of such a location (of course,
it
> virtually takes a surrounding minefield to keep out all the cats of your
> good neighbors, but if you can reasonably cat-proof such a set-up, you
can
> help the birds have a good chance of surviving this leg of their journey.
>
> Similarly, a constant-drip feed to two or three 24" flat earthenware
dishes
> about 1"-2" deep set up so the overflow from the higher ones drips into
the
> lower, with lowest at or just above ground-level, offers a range of
choice
> as well as the sound of dripping water (which is known to attract birds),
so
> that the little ones don't have to wait until a bigger bird is done. Some
of
> the small birds are too insecure to dive in when they don't know how deep

> the water is, so putting a series of flat rocks, some just under the
water's
> surface in the bath can reassure them.
>
> >My wife
> >suggested another variable. Get a speaker and an hour long CD with the
> >sound of running water. Would that be as effective?
>
> Yes, but it's not nice to fool Mother Nature if you can provide the real
> thing. I've heard that bird-surveyors in desert areas can attract many
birds
> by playing a tape of dripping water. Good for science, I guess, but no
> bird-surveyor has yet recorded the depth of cruel disillusionment on the
> part of the creatures living in that extreme environment.
>
> >It would be cleaner. I have to take some time tonight to clean out my
> >indoor fountain. The Song Sparrows were not discrete during their baths,
if
> >you get my drift.
>
> House-trained Song Sparrows--now, there's a thought. I bet they got
kicked
> out of all the swimming pools for peeing in 'em. Bad kids.
>
> Michael Price
> Vancouver BC Canada
> mprice at mindlink.net