Birds and water

I agree they often wait until late afternoon or dusk to come for a drink. I have a wide, shallow plant pot balanced on the corner of my raised pond, with a stone in the centre, and I don’t see many birds using it in the daytime.

I’m always pleased when a pair of goldfinches come down for a drink, as I don’t usually see them otherwise. I’ve also had a young fox quench his thirst too!

Thank you so much for your replies. I have to confess it’s only an old washing up bowl! Maybe, as you say, they have to get used to it. I’ll keep it topped up and see what happens.

They literally queue up by our pond! If we happen to sitting at that end of the garden thy always seem at bit miffed.
The wood pigeons come first followed by the smaller birds.

We have bird baths (plant pot trays) in a number of places and they are used by birds, hedgehogs, cats, squirrels and foxes. One is sitting on a stone bench at the bottom of the garden with bushes behind it and at the side but nothing in front. We often watch whole families of birds having a bath. If we let it dry up we've noticed that it can take a few days before any birds come back after we've refilled it. They take a while to get used to things and decide it is safe. It took two months before any birds used the new bird feeder although lots stood on top of it.

I've noticed my birds seem to have a kind of siesta around the middle of the day, they don't visit the feeders and don't sing much.
However just before dusk they are here in crowds. Have you tried putting a stone in the middle of the birdbath? Sometimes smaller birds will prefer a stone to stand on.
Otherwise, patience and keep it topped up.

Birds can be very suspicious of new feeders etc. but they should get used to them after a few days.

Is it shallow. I have a bird bath (pigeon sat on the edge at the moment) and I saw a bird drink from it yesterday then go and land on some very dry dirt and flap his wings about in it.

Maybe if it's out in the open that could be putting them off or perhaps you've not been looking when a bird's used it.

Good for you. I have bowls of every size at many different heights and locations- and they are using them all the time.

It takes time for them to get the message- hopefully when they do, they will be very happy to use.