Solar Bird Baths - Great For Birds And For People

Bird baths are a great way to get a wide variety of species of wild birds flocking to your yard and if you want ease of use and low utility bills along with a beautiful garden focal point then you might want to consider a solar bird bath.

Solar powered bird baths will allow you to have heat as well as a fountain option and they have a distinct advantage over an electric bird bath since they run on power from the sun and require no messing wiring nor do they use any electricity so your bills will not go up with this type of bird bath.

It’s fun to watch wild birds frolic in a bird bath and your birds love it too, but did you realize that having a source of fresh open water is critical to the survival of your backyard birds?  This is extremely important in wintertime when there may not be any natural open water. A solar bird bath is a perfect way to insure that there is always a source of open water since the heating element will work in cold weather to keep the water from freezing.

A solar powered bird bath uses a solar panel to collect and store energy from the sun.  Most of them also have a fountain feature that keeps the water circulating thus discouraging the growth of mold and bacteria.  The panel is usually located in the bowl portion and the pump for the fountain is usually found in the base or pedestal of the bird bath.

Using solar power instead of electricity gives you many more options on placement and installation of your bird bath.  The solar powered models can be placed anywhere in the garden without having to worry about running an electrical cord out to it.  It also makes it easy to move the location should you desire.  This is important since you want to choose a spot that is in plain view but will be protected from predators that might scare away your birds.

In addition to discouraging bacterial and mold growth, the running water feature of these bird baths has many other advantages over a bath that simply has stagnant water.  One of these is that stagnant water can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes and no one needs more of those in their yard!  Having water that is moving is not attractive to mosquitoes but it is attractive to birds and, in fact, you might find more birds and a wider range of varieties when your bird bath has running water as opposed to stagnant.

Solar bird baths do require a minimum amount of maintenance.  They do need to be cleaned regularly although one with running water will need much less attention than one without.  Scrubbing and using natural enzymes can help to keep down algae growth.  You also might need to replace your solar panels periodically and, for some models, you may need to remove them in winter.

All in all, caring for your solar powered bird bath shouldn’t really take too much time and you will be well rewarded with a large variety of wild birds that you can enjoy all year long!