The playful activity of birds in the yard can provide us with many pleasurable moments of bird watching. Water is just as crucial to the survival of birds as it is to ourselves, and they will flock to a fresh supply. Also, birds naturally respond to the sound of falling water, whether it comes from rain splashing naturally or from a lawn sprinkler. Providing a source of water for birds may be all that is needed to get them to flock to your yard.

One way to provide the sound of falling water is to take a one gallon plastic milk jug, and using a sewing needle, punch a very tiny hole in the bottom [1]. It’s tricky, and you might need to practice on a couple of jugs before you get the right size hole. Ideally, you want the water to drip a drop about every 8 to 10 seconds.

Hang the jug from a tree limb so that, as it drips, it splashes, making a “kerplunk” sound into your birdbath or into any other shallow saucer-like container. Hopefully, it won’t take long before your yard will be visited by a variety of our feathered friends taking advantage [2] of the fresh water.