Make a hangling water dish from simple materials to attract wild birds.
The wild birds that you love attracting to your yard require fresh, unfrozen water every day throughout the entire year for their survival. Water is also essential for bathing, which helps the birds remove parasites and keep their feathers clean. The unfathomable variety of commercially made water dishes for birds include some that are quite elaborate and very costly. Wild birds don't care about human aesthetics, however. They simply want a shallow puddle, which you can create from simple materials. Placed it strategically in a relatively safe, predator-free spot, your DIY water dish will provide a life-enhancing avian watering experience.
Instructions
1. Cut three pieces of rope into 5- or 6-foot lengths. Any type of rope or heavy twine with a 1/4- to 3/16-inch diameter works very well.
2. Tie one end of all three lengths of rope together with a knot. Place the knot on your working surface. Stretch the three strands outward from the knot. Space them apart at roughly even intervals, like spokes from a wheel hub.
3. Straddle an 8-inch grapevine wreath above the knot and the splayed ropes. Set it on top of them with the knot poking upward through the center point of the circle formed by the wreath.
4. Snug a 6-inch plastic plant pot saucer inside the grapevine wreath.
5. Cover the bottom of the water dish with small stones. This will help prevent smaller birds from slipping around in the dish.
6. Fill the saucer with water. Pick up the free ends of all three ropes and tie them together with a knot. Lift the hanging water dish by that knot and hang it in your tree. Situate it so that the saucer will rest at least 40 inches above ground to keep your wild birds safe from predators. If possible, install it among some small tree branches. This will provide the birds convenient perches for basking and preening.
7. Check your hanging water dish daily. During the summer months you'll need to replenish it often due to evaporation and zealous bathing and splashing activities. You'll probably need to break the ice from it and refill daily during freezing weather.
8. Remove the plastic saucer and scrub it clean of dirt and droppings at least every other day. Nasty water will make your wild birds sick.
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