Nature Knitter: Pool Party

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Pool Party

Here's a fun little movie of house sparrows enjoying my heated bird bath on Sunday afternoon. It was about 18 degrees when I was filming this, but that didn't seem to matter to these little guys. It made me thankful I don't have to bathe outside!

I like how the music works well with the scene. Oh, and did you see that downy woodpecker fly over to the suet log at the top of the picture (about 23 seconds into the movie)? You can just see his bottom half through the rest of the movie.

10 comments:

Robin (Bumblebee) said...: So cute! Where did you get your birdbath? (Please tell me it's online somewhere.) I put a heater into one of my regular birdbaths, but when the temperature dipped to 25 degrees this morning even it froze. Lotta good that did. So I'm in the market.

--Robin (Bumblebee); 1/3/08, 4:40 PM
Richard said...: Your birds have it made. A heated swimming pool with piped in music. Can't get much better then that.; 1/3/08, 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Glad you have pool parties at your house too. Our sparrows here love pool parties. This must be something like Hawaii to them. I didn't realize you played music for them, LOL.
Mom; 1/3/08, 7:38 PM
Larry said...: The sparrows look like they're having a blast! They've got the right idea.-Like the music too!; 1/3/08, 8:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Now that is my kind of winter hot tub!; 1/3/08, 9:56 PM
Jayne said...: Does the water not freeze on their feathers in temps that cold? Brrr... makes me cold for them and wishing I could offer a towel to dry off a bit once they are done in the hot tub...lol!; 1/4/08, 5:35 AM
Mary said...: I can't even stand to watch them bathing in ice. I know the water is heated but it's too darn cold! Icicles hanging off the side of the tub. Brrrrrr!

I saw the Downy fly in. So cute!

The music was a good choice - quietly dramatic and intense!

Great video, Ruthie :o); 1/4/08, 7:12 AM
RuthieJ said...: Hi Robin,
By now I guess you know the birdbath is from Allied Precision Instruments. I bought mine at Wild Birds Unlimited, but I think most wild bird stores also sell them, plus on-line. It's a good birdbath: easy to clean, holds 2 gallons of water, can be used year-round. Mine doesn't freeze over--even when temps drop below zero.

Hi Richard,
I've had this birdbath on the deck for several years so the birds aren't afraid to come in close either--makes it fun to see them up close (especially for my cat)

Hi Mom,
It's usually just the sparrows who come in flocks to drink and bathe and even though I don't like sparrows, they ARE fun to watch.

Hi Larry,
It's cute how 1 will come and then all of sudden there's 8-10 at the same time....good thing it's a large birdbath!

Hi Mon@rch,
Keeping the little bubbling rock in that birdbath has also really increased the activity year-round.

Hi Jayne,
I would have thought it would be a little cold too, but birds instinctively know when it's too cold to bathe. I've noticed they don't get really dripping wet and they spend lots of time preening and seperating their feathers after this little dip.

Hi Mare,
I know, I hate seeing those icicles hanging off there too, but I know the water in the bath is about 40 degrees--doesn't sound too comfortable for me, but I guess those little birds are a lot tougher than we think!; 1/4/08, 7:43 AM
Marsha said...: I really enjoyed this trip into your "neck of the woods".; 1/7/08, 7:33 PM
Marsha said...: ha, ha...meant to post that comment in the woods post not the pool party one...but I enjoyed the pool party too!; 1/7/08, 7:34 PM