Sounds awfully cushy, doesn’t it?
While it might seem somewhat unnecessary, there are a number of reasons you should either consider heating your existing bird bath or investing in a heated bath unit for the coming winter months. As we know, birds, much like us, have three basic needs that need to be fulfilled for them to survive: food, shelter and water. As the winter months can be barren, birds might have to travel quite a ways to find fresh water, which can be detrimental to their survival.
They Save Birds’ Energy
Let’s be honest, without your bird bath your chickadees, cardinals and juncos are still very likely to survive the winter months. It being a necessity, birds will often seek out reliable water sources, which this time of year typically consist of moving waterways such as streams, creeks and rivers.
That being said, these daily treks can be strenuous on our birds depending on how far they have to travel. Many wild animals will expend as little energy as possible during cold temperatures in an attempt to retain heat, and birds are no different. Having a year-round watering hole in your yard will not only aid your backyard birds this winter, it should prove to keep them around and attract many others.
Types of Heated Bird Baths
Portable Units
These are the units that can quickly and easily be added to your existing bird baths in your yard. Simply thaw or empty any contents in your current back yard bird bath and refill with fresh water. Each unit is flat in design, allowing them to rest in the bottom of the bowl, while cranking out 200 watts of heating power. Once the desired temperature is reach, these units are thermostatically regulated; meaning they power down until the water dips below the temperature threshold.
One thing to keep in mind with existing bird baths is to ensure the depth of the water in the bowl is not too great. Many folks will only utilize about half or less of what the bowl will typically accommodate and will place items such as large rocks inside the bowl as well for additional perch areas for bathing or drinking birds.
Stand Alone Heated Baths
These are complete bird baths with built-in heaters for the winter months. As mentioned above, these bowls are typically designed for use during the winter months with a shallow bottom, skirting the risk of your birds getting terribly wet.
Each of these units comes complete with a resin bowl and stand, and is painless to set up.