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====== Keep your Bird Bath Clean and Topped up ======

{{ :starlings.jpeg?200|}}Water is vital and is not just essential for drinking. Bathing helps birds to cool down and keep their feathers in good condition, which is especially important at the moment during their moult. Birds do not sweat, so they rely on other methods to regulate body temperature. Two of the most important are panting and gular fluttering, a rapid movement of the throat area that helps release excess heat.  

If you can offer a clean, shallow water source, you will be helping them in more ways than one. Without access to a bird bath for drinking and standing, heat stress can quickly become fatal. The simple act of splashing in cool water can lower a bird's body temperature and prevent deadly overheating.

Spring and summer are the peak of breeding season for many bird species. Nesting parents are working tirelessly, making hundreds of trips a day to feed hungry and thirsty babies. These adults need quick, reliable access to water to maintain their own energy levels.

Keeping the bird bath shallow is important especially for smaller birds, so that they can also drink and bath. In hot weather they will come back again and again throughout the day, especially while they are feeding chicks.

Please place your birdbath somewhere birds can escape quickly. Birds have to lower their guard as they bend down to drink and are even more vulnerable when bathing, as wet feathers may slow down their escape.  Place your birdbath in a shaded area, ideally beneath a tree. In direct sun, shallow water heats up easily and evaporates quickly during a heatwave, leaving birds without access to clean water just when natural sources are drying up.

Please do change your birdbath water daily in hot weather, as warm stagnant water quickly breeds algae and bacteria, which can make birds, who are already struggling with the heat, very sick. Regularly cleaning your bird feeders and baths is essential to ensure garden birds stay healthy. Disease has been linked to population declines in some species and dirty feeders can harbour pathogens and increase the risk of cross-contamination between the birds that visit them. Perform a thorough scrub and cleaning of your bird bath at least once a week. Use a non-toxic disinfectant like Ark-Klens © Vetark or a mild (5%) bleach solution and  a cleaning brush to scrub away any old food, waste and debris and clean the feeder.