Hello birders,
This is a question about avian hygiene. I think it's on-topic here, let me
know if otherwise.
For the past two weeks, we've had two Song Sparrows, 6-8 White-throated, and
5-6 Juncos around our feeders and fountain every day.
Every day we see at least one Song Sparrow bathe, sometimes two. (Or maybe one
bird taking two baths in one day.) We have never seen any of the other species
bathe.
Do other sparrow types prefer open water like a stream? Or do they exclusively
use dust or dirt baths? I've seen House Sparrows take dirt baths, and the sole
House Sparrow at our feeders has not bathed in the fountain either.
How much do grooming / hygiene techniques vary between different species, and
different families? Anyone know, or can you tell me where to read up about
that?
By the way -- -- credit where credit is very due .. .. we built a Bob
Schamerhorn-style fountain based on his lecture and book a couple of months
ago, just in time for fall migration. And it has been a fantastic bird magnet
- we have lots of birds bathing since putting it in.
If you (like us) have a simple static bird bath and wonder what more you might
do with a little construction effort - I highly recommend Bob's system and
plans. Of course we customized ours to make it more practical for our
situation, use stuff we already had, and also to fit our garden style. Here's
the site for Bob's book.
http://www.iphotobirds.com/TheBirdSpa/index.html
Thanks for any information anyone can share -- --
Steve Johnson and Lynn Rafferty
Fairfax, Virginia
