Spring 2002 Table of Contents

Fall is water maintenance time

Water may be the most critical provision you can make in your backyard for wildlife, especially during a drought year like this one.

All animals need drinking water, but some use it for other reasons. Although birds eat snow and melting ice to get water in winter, an open water source is used for drinking and especially for bathing. Many birds bathe, even in the winter, to keep feathers clean so they retain body heat better. Many insects, fish, reptiles and amphibians live at least part of their lives in water, even "hibernating" through winter in wet areas.

Whether you provide water in a simple birdbath or a full-fledged, pump-maintained pond, fall is the best time to do major maintenance work on your system. It's the end of the growing season, so you won't be disturbing pond plants or wildlife families. And thorough cleaning, repair, and replacement is important at this time to ready your bath or pond for winter use.

Trouble-free winter use of a birdbath starts with your type or design choice. A birdbath can be almost anything that holds water, from an upside down frisbee to an elaborate stone sculpture. Whatever form it takes, certain features are crucial:

• Birds prefer a birdbath with beach-like margins that slope gradually, allowing them to first land and then wade in to a comfortable depth.

• Keep the water shallow -- typically 1 to 3 inches at its deepest point -- since most birds bathe in water that is no deeper than their legs are long. Many birdbaths go unused because the water is too deep.

• Few birds will try to bathe in a bath that has a slippery surface, though they may perch on the edge to drink. A rough-textured bowl is much preferred.

• Avoid birdbaths with edges that turn up sharply or that are made of materials (like plastic) that can easily crack with temperature changes. When water freezes, it expands about 10 percent. The ice will exert pressure against an edge and crack the birdbath. Shallow concrete basins are probably your best bet.

If you fall in love with a birdbath that is too deep, steep, or slippery for birds, you may be able fix the problem by adding flat rocks. Bathtub stickers or caulk sprinkled with sand also provide traction on slippery surfaces. Bathtub stickers or caulk sprinkled with sand also provide traction on slippery surfaces.

Any size birdbath may be used by birds. However, the bigger the birdbath the more birds will use it at the same time and the easier it may be to maintain through the winter. For communal bathing, a birdbath should be at least 18 inches in diameter.

Ground-level birdbaths, or dipping pools, are an especially attractive feature in a garden and may be preferred by some bird species. They can be made larger than a standard birdbath and may attract other wildlife, such as treefrogs, that might not visit a birdbath on a stand. However, because they are at ground level, they may put birds at greater risk from local cat. They also may be tougher to maintain through the winter in areas where belowfreezing temperatures are common.

To be sure a birdbath is a reliable source of water, keep it from freezing between dawn and nightfall, when birds are active. The water need only be kept just above freezing.

You can keep a birdbath free of ice by pouring warm water into the bowl, but this is tedious in extreme cold weather, as the water freezes rapidly. A stick of wood left in the water during cold snaps can help you pop out ice so you can add fresh water. (If the water does freeze, the stick will also help to prevent the birthbath from cracking.)

Birdbaths equipped with submersible, thermostatically controlled heaters will save you time. Small heaters designed to operate at a depth of one to three inches are available at garden stores and hardware centers, and through mail-order catalogs.

You will need a source of electricity to run your birdbath heater. Exercise caution here. Outdoor outlets should be on a circuit or outlet protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), which will cut off the flow of electricity in the event of a short. Most outlets in newer homes are protected by GFCI. If yours isn't and you are comfortable with wiring and electricity, you can install your own. Otherwise, consult a qualified electrician.

When using a heater, keep the birdbath full of clean water or you may ruin the heater and your birdbath. Some heaters are equipped with automatic shut-off systems when no water is detected and may be worth the extra cost.

Keeping water available in your birdbath year-round means you have yearround cleaning responsibilities. Diseases can spread quickly and easily in an untended birdbath, especially during seasons when you are also providing feed nearby. Change the water every few days in a small bath, and rinse a dipping pool every week with your hose, to get rid of regurgitated seeds and other debris. Change water more often if many birds are using the bath. (Locating your birdbath near a hose will make refilling and cleaning easier.)

Scrub small baths a few times each month with a plastic brush to remove algae and bacteria. Never add chemicals to kill algae or insects or to keep the water from freezing in your birdbath. Efforts needed to care for backyard wildlife ponds in fall and winter are also dictated by their type, size, and location.

A pond with water circulating through an electrical pump is easier to keep ice-free. Of course you also have to maintain your pump system, whether it's submersible or surface, or opt to winterize the system.

Without circulating water, and depending on the size and depth of your pond and the severity of your area's winter temperatures, you might consider a pond heater. All of the precautions about electrical sources noted above about birdbath heaters apply, whether you choose to keep pond water open by a pump or heater.

A larger pond is generally easier to maintain through winter than a smaller one. Pond liners made with flexible materials are impervious to freezing.

Winter is a good time to test for water table depth if you are just now thinking about adding a pond to your backyard sanctuary. Dig a test hole the same depth as your proposed pond and observe it for 24 hours for signs of water; if the hole fills with water on a no- rain day, your water table is high in that spot. While a low spot that quickly fills with water may be a great location for a mud-lined pond, it's not ideal for one with a synthetic liner. A high water table can force a flexible liner to bubble up and pop a rigid fiberglass liner out of the ground.

Whatever your pond type, fall is the time for major clean up.

After a storm de-leafs area trees, try to limit the amount of leaves that enter your pond. Fallen leaves can make the water too acidic for many life forms, and decomposing leaves rob the water of dissolved oxygen. Fallen leaves and needles also can clog pumps. Don't worry about removing every leaf; a three-inch layer of decaying vegetation on the pond's bottom is OK if the pond is getting enough oxygen from live plants or a fountain. Aquatic insects, frogs, turtles and even some fish will burrow into the debris for the winter.

Pull a garden rake through the water to not only collect fallen leaves, but also to clear out excess growth of floating-leaf plants such as duckweed. When cleaning a pond, let collected vegetation sit at the pond's edge overnight to allow excess water to drain and any aquatic wildlife to escape.

To keep the pond partially clear of leaves, place black nylon netting over its surface in the fall. After cleaning the netting, you can replace it tightly over the pond's surface to keep fish safe from predators throughout the winter.

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