Greetings all:

Here in Moscow I find it very useful to plug my bird bath heater into
an outdoor timer. I have it programmed to come on around 6 am
and off around 3 pm. That way, water is thawed by first light and it
starts to freeze at dusk. Two benefits: 1) save a few pennies on
electricity; and 2) more importantly, spend less time filling the
bath. I discovered that if I left it heat all night (especially on very
cold nights) the water evaporates. With the timer, I only need to
refill every couple of days rather than every morning.

Kas Dumroese
Moscow, ID