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Re: freezing bird baths
- To: carolina birds <carolinabirds@acpub.duke.edu>
- Subject: Re: freezing bird baths
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:17:07 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <006a01bf3c3c$72ab5a80$4e0301d8@walton>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Wed, 1 Dec 1999, Golden Cockerel wrote:
>
> Joshua's note made me think: should I put sugar (or some other
> substance) in my bird bath to keep it from freezing and therefore keep more
> birds happy? Salt might be the obvious, but might give thirsty birds high
> blood pressure (smile). Is there anything of the sort on the market that is
> "bird-friendly"? Anybody out there putting sugar/salt into bird baths?
I'm not sure how you could do this without potentially harming the birds.
Adding sugar to the bird bath will speed up fungal and other growths that
can infect and kill birds, probably even more quickly in an open bird
bath than it happens in a mostly-closed hummingbird feeder. And salt
would defeat the whole purpose of the bird bath: drinking salt water
dehydrates the body, while birds (and all vertebrates) consume water to
hydrate the body and get rid of excess salts (among other wastes). I
can't think of anything which you could dissolve in the bird bath to
lower the freezing point that might not have negative consequences for
the birds.
When the bird bath freezes, I just dump the ice and replace it with water
every morning. If that's too much work, or you are not at home enough,
then they sell bird bath heaters that keep the ice away. Try the Wild
Bird Center or your local equivalent, or check the ABA's catalogue.
Cheers,
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/