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Gary350
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Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Water for birds

After spending 2 hours trying to get the ice out of my garden hose water started flowing and a lot of birds came to drink eater. I was supprised to see so many birds and they acted like they were not afraid of me they landed only 4 feet from me to get water. After that I put out some sunflower seeds for the birds but so far the only thing the birds want is the water. I put a bucket of water out and now there is a continious stream of birds coming to the water. Interesting.

My carrots, beets and greens are doing fine in this cold weather it has been down to 9 deg F and below freezing for over a week during the day. High has typically been 21 to 27 degrees for a week. Several of my herbs are doing fine too.

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rainbowgardener
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Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Yeah, our feathered friends definitely need water and sometimes when everything is frozen, I guess it is hard to come by.

I had a similar experience at the other end of the year... Summer 2008 we were having bad drought. I was watering my hillside, which involves standing near the top of the hill with hose and letting the water arc over and rain down, since I don't have hose long enough to reach those plants. I guess there were a lot of thirsty birds, because my hose stream attracted a bunch of them. I had hummingbirds and several other varieties (I don't remember now) zipping in and out of the edges of the stream getting drinks, washing off, playing. It was amazing!

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jal_ut
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Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Yes, birds certainly appreciate liquid water in the winter when things are frozen. Water is a big attractor for the birds in any season.



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