New Birdbath

So, DH got a new birdbath for his birthday. He has wanted a "real" one for some time, and my attempts at discount artsy ones were met with...less than enthusiastic response. So, I finally gave him the green light, to go buy the birdbath of his dreams, so long as he counted it as his birthday gift from me this year. Why do they have to be so pricey, anyway?

He picked out this nice one. It is cement, I think, and very heavy. No worries about stray shots from the basketball hoop nearby knocking it over.

And it DOES look a lot nicer than the previous one.

So....how do the birds like it?

Not so much.

Part of the reason we wanted a bigger birdbath, is there has been some traffic congestion with the old one. The birds would line up on the fence above, waiting their turn. And we see some territoriality in display as well, with one bird chasing other birds away. When we saw a bird playing in the bucket used to fill the bath, we thought getting a bigger bath might help.

So, we have seen some occasional birds sit on the edge and sipping. But none have sat it it to really bathe or splash yet. And we have seen several of the smaller brown birds consider from the fence for 5 minutes or longer, finally convince themselves to swoop down over the birdbath, only to pull up at the last moment and fly away. I suspect the bigger birdbath may be too deep for them. Either that, or they just aren't used to it yet. We do plan to set up the old one again further away, but we are trying to give the birds some time to get used to the new one.

Barley, our youngest, said the new birdbath is nice, but he wishes we had told him we were going to change it first. The birds seem to agree with him.