A Water Feature to Attract Songbirds

Installing a water feature in your garden can be an easy way to attract songbirds and friendly wildlife to your property, creating a haven for the creatures humans have displaced with our continuing urban development. This increasingly popular gardening trend can transform your garden from a deserted spot to a pleasantly populated wildlife destination.

Due to massive landscaping changes and habitat reduction caused by roads, housing, and commercial development, it can be difficult for wild animals and birds to find fresh, drinkable water. This has led to a countrywide reduction in songbird populations, and the trend continues to spread. Putting up a water feature in your garden is an environmentally friendly way to beautify your home, while enhancing it with the pleasant sounds of birdsong and running water.

Adding a water feature can be as easy as purchasing a solar fountain, filling it, and placing it in the desired outdoor location. As long as it receives enough sunlight, the fountain's gentle bubbling will keep the water fresh and clean, providing local birds a pleasant place to drink and bathe while preventing the growth of unsightly algae. A larger water feature, such as a small pond with an aeration fountain, provides the same benefits while also allowing larger animals a water source. If you enjoy the sight of deer wandering through your trees, a larger fountain is the way to go. 

But even a small outdoor water feature has many benefits beyond the aesthetic. The birds attracted by the fountain can help control insect pests in your garden, while providing a soft dawn chorus to wake up to. Placing a birdbath is particularly effective if it is accompanied by a convenient bird feeder, but bewares to use a squirrel-proof one. Squirrels are aggressive against birds and can frighten or injure them. Bird-based insect control will make it much easier to care for your sensitive plants that don't hold up well to insecticides, and for birdwatchers, a bird-friendly water fountain can be a huge boon. There's no feeling like the feeling of seeing a bird for the first time in your own front yard.