(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Providing for wildlife in the summer. It's hot and dry for them, too. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-09

Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour, the place where politics meets up with religion, art, science, nature, and life. Come in, have a cuppa and a cookie (or three!) and join us.

It’s been hot, it was warm, now it’s getting hot again. Most of the local fireworks have been used (not all; there are a few every night). And darn it, I don’t have a single ripe tomato yet. Many, many blooms. Many tomatoes of various sizes, including a couple the size of softballs. But no sign of red or purple or black, depending on variety. My cucumber vines make a whole jungle on their own, with maybe a hundred blooms, but yesterday I found my first tiny beginning of an actual cuke. This is the worst year for harvest, even though there’s been rain and sun. It was too cold to plant early, then too hot for salad plants, all together.

I’m keeping water out for wildlife, both the kinds I can draw to the house so I can watch them and the kinds who take their water after dark, away from people. Today was one of the days I cleaned my birdbaths and fountains, and if I’d thought of it, I might have taken pictures of the steps, but I didn’t and I didn’t. So here are some pictures, and I’ll just tell you what I did.

This was my original birdbath. It’s heated but of course that part is unplugged in the summer. The pumps are solar powered, and the stones are to give smaller birds a way to get close to the fountain. Birds really like to bathe in this one. I can tip the basin over the side to empty it, and every time I do that in the summer, I find one or more chorus frogs under there.

This is what the birdbaths look like before I clean them. I rinse and wipe out as much as I can, then fill it with vinegar, to kill algae. I clean the pump and let the vinegar run through it, then run clean water until it’s well rinsed. I also use a scrub brush and vinegar to clean the stones. Rinse well. How often I do this depends on the algae growth. First sign of it, and I’m out with a hose, scrubber, and vinegar. That might be once or twice a week, but in between, I will rinse and flush everything.

You can make a fountain out of a lot of things. Just be sure the mouth is broad enough that the water falls back inside. Those little pumps can empty a gallon out of the pool in 10-20 minutes, and a gallon is about all these hold.

I had a Bradford pear tree next to the driveway. (I certainly didn’t plant it there.) Three times, huge pieces broke off and blocked the drive. I finally had it removed. The stump makes a great platform for this little birdbath, and the sprouts growing from the roots make a nice surround for it. Birds like having a sheltered place to sit and look over the situation before landing on the birdbath itself, and they like having a place to dry off after a bath.

What is it you do in the summer to provide for wildlife?

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/9/2180128/-Providing-for-wildlife-in-the-summer-It-s-hot-and-dry-for-them-too

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/