Hi everyone! A question I get a lot is “How do you keep the water clean?” Two things help keep the water clean. First is frequent partial water changes. The bird ponds lose a lot of water to evaporation and to birds splashing (and carrying water off with them when they fly away soaking wet). So, I top them off with fresh water just about every day (I don’t have to do this if we get enough rain). While I’m refilling, I spray down the pebbles to wash away any accumulated dirt. The pools have a low spot that allows the excess, dirty, water to flow out and into the gardens. The second thing is mechanical and/or biological filtration. I use filtering based on what people use for fish ponds. On the main bird pond - the one with the water fall flowing over the rocks and into the bathing pool - the pump is in an open water reservoir beyond the bathing pool (basically a small fish pond with no fish) and the pump is in a filter box that helps clean the water. It’s then pumped up to a waterfall filter that further cleans the water. You can find both of these types of filters anywhere that sells fish pond supplies. The woodland stream uses a more natural filtration system in which the bed of pebbles that the pump is buried under serves as a biological filter. Good bacteria and other organisms naturally build up in the stone bed and clean the water. Drawing water down through the bed of pebbles also helps trap sediments. This is based on the bog filter or wetlands filters used for fish ponds. There are a lot of good videos on RUclips about how bog filters work. A channel called OzPonds has some of the best. The puddles doesn’t have filtration because it dries out between rains or refills with the hose, so the water in that is always fresh, and the pool bed there gets baked in the sun between refills. Hope this helps!
Hello! Your bird features are beautiful! I am planning an upgrade to a bird feature and had a question. On your main bird pond, you mentioned pumping water from a reservoir. I assume you have the access water from the pond recirculating into that reservoir to be pumped again. My question is how are you guiding that pond water back into the reservoir? Is it basically an overflow or are you using some other form of guiding the water?
@@wkusmith It’s just gravity fed. When I dug out the reservoir, I piled up that soil to create a slope for the water feature. I contoured the dirt in a way that I thought would direct in down the slope, stopping at a couple pools along the way. After placing the liner and before adding any edging rocks, I tested the water flow to make sure it went where I wanted it to. Of course, it didn’t on the first try 😄. But I just turned off the water, lifted the liner, and adjusted the soil underneath. It took a few tries to get it right.
Only till this video did I realised that it was a lady doing all these projects, well done, not only are you are making the birds happy but all your viewers are enjoying your videos too, thank you.
🙂 I try to stay out of the videos and keep it all about the birds but, yes, I’m a woman in her mid 50s and I do all the projects myself. I keep my projects small and inexpensive. They’re the sort of thing most people could do on their own. Thanks for watching!
I started working in this one for last week but these compilation videos with lots of clips take so much longer to put together. I underestimated the time it would take and didn’t get finished in time. I had fun with it, though and glad you enjoyed watching!
I wish more people cared about wildlife. Most seem to only think of their dogs and cats running loose is being a good owner; but in fact, it is pure heck on wild birds and wildlife, particularly nestling birds. Simply selfish irresponsible behavior.
Aww! That’s really nice to hear. Thank you and welcome to the channel! I post a new video every Sunday morning with new bird video footage from the previous week.
I meant to tell you, Ms Warbler, that you have also inspired me to make some water features for our dwindling birds. I have myriad bird baths but I only have one in operation on the ground in my backyard. It's static and I change it twice a week. The one on the ground services: Birds, Raccoons, Opossums, Skunks and Mosquitoes (I think maybe lizards, too)! LOL I LOVE your drip plate idea and I have the perfect place to keep an eye out on one of those from my office window. I found a small pump in the trash and it works (it had never been used). But I think, as you say, the birds need to get used to a new feature in their realm. I live in the freaking city with cars and people everywhere, so the errant bird that comes to visit my home sets my heart aflame with joy! Oh, Tennessee! I remembered the song "Rocky Top" when you mentioned that you have lots of rocks where you live. LOL
Yay! I think every little bit of critter-friendly habitat helps, even in more urbanized settings. Probably even more important there. If you’re worried about the mosquitoes at your wildlife pond, there’s an organic product called mosquito dunks that kills mosquito larvae but is safe for wildlife. They work well, but the raccoons stealing mine 😄. Good luck with your dripper and other projects. I’m sure your birds will appreciate it!
So awesome. I’m in Australia on the east coast on a little island. We have bird life galore here. Mostly large ones like lorikeets,cockatoo, kookaburra,corellas,and then even bigger ones like ibis forest pheasant and the island is full of curlews. I have a family nesting in my backyard at the moment. They are mainly ground birds but can fly. The curlews mainly are active at night and are quite load when they get going. Visitors find it hard to sleep here sometimes. I never knew how much I love birds until I bought this beautiful island property. Thankyou for some wonderful ideas for water xxx
WOW! I really enjoyed your videos! You have given me so many ideas! I share your love of Robins! I get so much joy watching them bathe! Their facial expressions crack me up while they are all wet! I live in the suburbs but have done so many things in my yard to naturlize it for the birds, bees and butterflies. Also have toads and frog ponds. I get such a thrill when migrating birds stop by for a quick visit!
Thank you! I love to see the migrating birds too. The first of the fall warblers just started to arrive here this week. A little earlier than usual. So exciting! Good luck with all your habitat projects, I'm sure the birds and other critters will appreciate your efforts.
I’m so glad I found you‼️ My home & Town was burnt to the ground 5.5 yrs ago & I’m starting over. You have done exactly what I want to do. Your video has made my plans so much easier.❤️
For your next water feature, you could try a marshy wetland with cattails, reeds, and sedges. Even a small marsh is likely to attract wetland birds like common yellowthroats and red-winged blackbirds as well as amphibians and insects.
That’s a good idea. I watched a Phoebe collect moss off the rocks in the woodland stream this spring and thought that a source of mud would probably be helpful for birds too. It would need a sunny, flat spot, and that’s something I don’t have much of here. I’ll give this some thought! It might be my fall project.
Oh, I am STILL coming down from the high I got while watching your beautiful video! And just subscribed! I am an avid bird lover and have a life list that I've kept for 44 years. I want to thank you SO MUCH for helping the birds. They are on rapid decline due to loss of habitat, diseases, chemicals, climate, more!! For you this is a win-win because in addition to helping the birds, you are getting a great joy from observing and having them fill your heart. God bless you.
Aww, thank you so much. And welcome to the channel! I get to add a few for “wins” because, thanks to RUclips, I get to share my birds with people from all over the worlds - and I’ve had several people tell me they’ve been inspired to build bird ponds and do other nice things for their birds. All of that makes me really happy. I post a new Sunday Morning Birds video on Sundays at 6am eastern time. The videos follow the birds on my property through the year. Lots of beautiful colorful summer birds right now. In a few months the migrants will start to arrive. We’ve had a very active fall migration season here the last few years and I’m hoping we see lots of fall birds again this year. Thanks for watching and commenting! I appreciate it!
Love your videos! I just discovered you today and can hardly wait until next year when we move to our own place to build something like this here in the PNW! At the moment, I only have little water features I've made with pots and plates/bowls. Love how natural and serene your bird ponds look! SO relaxing to watch.
Thank you and welcome to the channel! Those little water sources really help too. I’m sure your birds appreciate it! I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy our weekly Sunday Morning Birds videos.
Love everything! Can you go into more detail on where you construct these ponds? In sun? Shade? How close to treeline? Pump sizes? Mosquito management? Do you have to clean the pumps periodically? I have 13 acres & would like to replicate your ponds.
Hi. The ponds are in part shade. The larger, older one gets shade about half the day and is located on a gardened terrace behind the house (I’m on a fairly steep hillside). There are shrubs and small trees adjacent to that one and it’s about 10 feet from the edge of the woods. The newer woodland stream is actually under the trees, at the edge of the woods. My lot is primarily wooded, with a small clearing for the house. There’s another clearing down by the road and that’s where I’ve been experimenting with the “puddle” project. Each location seems to attract different birds. The woodland stream, in particular, gets woodpeckers, which rarely visit the bird pond. They come down the trunk of the tree that’s right next to the stream and can quickly hop over to the water. I believe I have a 1,000 GPH pump at the bird pond the 600 GPH at the woodland stream. I have flow valves on the return line of both so I can adjust the flow. I’ve found the birds prefer a gentle flow of water. The pumps get cleaned two or three times a year. As long as the water is moving, mosquitoes aren’t a problem. When I was trying to keep water in the puddle, which doesn’t have a pump, I kept a mosquito dunk in there. Something to think about in planning your water features is that they will need daily attention, unless you make yours significantly bigger, with a larger water reservoir. I intentionally kept things small to keep project costs down (and because digging a larger reservoir in my rocky soil would not be fun). Between evaporation and what the birds splash out, I have to top off the water on these once a day. When I’m doing that, I rinse down the stones and gravel to help keep things clean. Hope this helps. Good luck with your project!
Good job! I had a flock of Waxwings visit my birdbath last year and they came back this year, and found the birdbath in the new location. I figured they were migrating because they only came once each time.
Thanks so much for this informative (and entertaining) video. I live in an apartment, but I will definitely be building a pond of some kind, based on what I learned from you, if I ever have the space to do it. I do have a concrete pedestal bird bath that gets used - not sure how often. Thanks again!
It's awesome! I'm glad you finally got your robins. I usually have robins in my front yard, with no feeders or anything. I saw my first robin under my feeders a month or two ago. It wasn't there for the seed, but I'm glad I saw it. I want to do a water feature now. 🙂 Thanks for this video!!
You should definitely do a water feature! Even a tiny one makes a bid difference. And I’m jealous of your robins 🙂 I think my soil is just too rocky for them. Makes it difficult for them to dig up worms
Very nice projects. If you are looking for more work the water in the large pond might be made to last longer by making a large reservoir and then using a solar pump to circulate the water from the reservoir to the pond with the excess making it's way back to the reservoir. With the large area of the pond and surrounding rocked area the reservoir should fill quickly when it rains. If you wanted to complicate it a bit more a float switch could be added to shut off the pump when the reservoir gets low.
All good ideas, and I know for a lot of people it’s fun to figure things out (and I respect and appreciate that) but I like to keep things simple. And I don’t mind topping off the water every day or two. It’s part of my routine and it provides some nice quiet time in the garden 🙂
I would be so happy if I could convince some robins to stay for the summer 🙂 Thanks for watching and leaving a comment. It’s always nice to hear from viewers.
It depends on where you live. If your winters are long and cold, you might want to remove the pump in the winter. I would worry that pressure from the ice could crack the pump. In my part of Tennessee, the water in my bird ponds only freezes solid a few times a year, so just unplug the pump during cold spells and start it back up when it warms up. For me, the biggest problem is making sure the ponds don’t run dry during the warm season. I killed a pump that way one year. Between evaporation and birds splashing water out of the pools, I have to top everything off with a gallon or two every day. Good luck with your pond! They’re a lot of fun to build and I’m sure your birds will love it.
This is all so inspiring! I'm in awe of all the amazing birds. Those warblers--wow! Thank you for the great footage and the labeling. I'm learning so much. I love how naturalistic the stone formations are. Where are you located? I'm going to share with my local native gardening group and FB group in S-central PA. Saw a Cape May warbler today (May 10) and hoping there might be more variety nearby. Thank you!
@@FartherTogether Thank you! Inspiring is good! There’s so much we can do to help the birds and other wildlife around us. Even small things make a big difference over time. I’m located on a wooded hillside in the eastern portion of Tennessee. North of Knoxville and near Norris Lake (one of the big TVA flood control/power generation reservoirs). Thank you for sharing the videos. I appreciate that and very much like the idea of being a part of the larger community of native gardening and backyard habitat folks out there.
@@FartherTogether oh, and congratulations on the Cape May Warbler! It’s been a slow spring for warblers here. We’ve had some nasty storm front that I think are either slowing them down or sending them in a different direction. But the Merlin app thought it heard a Black-throated Green this morning, so there may still be more coming through.
That makes sense. I mainly get smaller birds here. If robins ever decide to take up residence, maybe I could build them a bigger bird pond of their own 🙂
Love ur videos. Love seeing the birds and how you made it from beginning to end. Your videos are clear and have good quality. What camera are you using?
Thank you! I have several older GoPro cameras (GoPro Hero 5 Black) that I use to film the birds. I like how portable they are and being waterproof is a big plus 🙂 Thanks for watching!
Amazing! I'm in the planning phase of building my own backyard stream for the birds. I can't wait to see what I attract. What camera system do you use? These videos are incredible!
Thanks! I use GoPro cameras. I have a couple older Hero 5 Black models that I bought used. Since they’re just sitting there, I don’t really need the advanced image stabilization that the newer models have.
@@WarblerRidge with your GoPro camera, is there WiFi capability, or do you physically take out the SD card and upload to your computer? I'm in the planning phase for a very similar bird stream and would love to capture footage like this in my backyard!
There’s a GoPro app that connects to the camera so you can view and trim clips. I subscribe to GoPro’s cloud storage to upload clips to the cloud so I can download them to my computer from there. But I think you can upload to any cloud service. And you can also save clips to you phone for editing with apps or sharing on social media sites.
Great video. Love the little streams you've created! I have plans to do the same after just providing a small, circular feature with a shallow terra cotta dish, some flat rocks and a small pump last year. I was able to attract over 30 species. Where do you source all of your stone--especially the larger ones?
It’s amazing how many different birds are attracted to water! Good luck with your new project. I’m sure your birds will love it. My property here in Tennessee is on a rocky hillside, so there are rocks everywhere I look. I just gather up what I need for projects. I do buy bags of river pebbles at Lowes to use in the beds of the pools. You might try asking at a local garden center about stones. Or you could use a more readily available alternative like logs, bricks, or pavers as edging. I’ve started using logs and large branches on the edges of my water features so the tree clinging birds like woodpeckers and nuthatches have something to hold onto.
@@WarblerRidgeThanks. It is amazing what running water can attract. I'm in Western New York. I'd like to do something that looks as natural as possible. Do you have to clean these often? I find that my little "fountain" gets a lot of algae growth, though it is in midday sun.
@@cc63 The “puddle” project gets algae in the summer. It’s in full sun with no moving water, so not much I can do about that one. But the other two water features stay pretty clear. The “bird pond” is my oldest water feature and it is set up like a fish pond with no fish. There’s a small open water reservoir beyond the bird bathing areas that holds the pump. This pump is in a filter box and the water is pumped up to a waterfall filter than has biological and mechanical filtration. I clean the filters once a year in the spring. The newer woodland stream and the mini pond have filtration based on bog or wetland filters used in fish ponds. The pump is housed in a container that is buried under a bed of stones. Over time, the stone bed gets filled with organisms that clean the water. These were a bit of an experiment for me but they’ve been working really well. All of my water features get some fresh water added pretty much daily, and when I do that, I use the spray from the garden hose to stir up and rinse out the gravel layers where the birds bathe.
Just found your fabulous channel with no audio. So peaceful. Have you ever tried solar pumps? I do not have a electric outlet available? Do you get your pumps from local shops ( i.e. Ozpond) or Amazon?
Hello and welcome to the channel! I use a solar pump on a small patio fountain. It works fine for that but, of course, only runs when the solar panel is in the sun. I have lots of trees here and lots of shade, so solar doesn’t work very well for me. If you have plenty of sun, I think a solar pump would work okay for a small fountain or water feature. If the water is going to be still for a good number of hours each day, you‘ll want to make sure and add fresh water frequently because still water tends to get nasty pretty quickly. Thanks for watching!
Thank you! Two things keep the water clean. First is frequent partial water changes. The bird ponds lose a lot of water to evaporation and to birds splashing (and carrying water off with them when they fly away soaking wet). So, I top them off with fresh water just about every day (I don’t have to do this if we get enough rain). While I’m refilling, I spray down the pebbles to wash away any accumulated dirt. The pools have a low spot that allows the excess, dirty, water to flow out and into the gardens. The second thing is mechanical and/or biological filtration. I use filtering based on what people use for fish ponds. On the main bird pond - the one with the water fall flowing over the rocks and into the bathing pool - the pump is in an open water reservoir beyond the bathing pool (basically a small fish pond with no fish) and the pump is in a filter box that helps clean the water. It’s then pumped up to a waterfall filter that further cleans the water. You can find both of these types of filters anywhere that sells fish pond supplies. The woodland stream uses a more natural filtration system in which the bed of pebbles that the pump is buried under serves as a biological filter. Good bacteria and other organisms naturally build up in the stone bed and clean the water. Drawing water down through the bed of pebbles also helps trap sediments. This is based on the bog filter or wetlands filters used for fish ponds. There are a lot of good videos on RUclips about how bog filters work. A channel called OzPonds has some of the best. Hope this helps!
I don’t do anything to winterize. It doesn’t stay very cold here in the winter. I’ve found that the pumps will continue to run, even if the temps drop below freezing. The pump is down below ground level, so it’s a little warmer down there. It takes several days in a row with the highs below freezing for the pools to really freeze up. I just watch the forecast and unplug the pumps when it’s going to be really cold and start them back up when things thaw out.
I’m pretty sure it’s a 400 gph pump. It’s more powerful than I really needed. I put a control valve on the line that runs to the waterfall so I can control the flow.
I would love to do more water features, but our neighborhood has too many roaming cats. 😢. The entire neighborhood of cats visits my yard to hunt birds, chipmunks, and bunnies. Super annoying.
Argh! That’s terrible. You’re right, though, a ground level water feature is not a good option for you. I love kitties but I keep mine inside. Have you tried one of those motion activated sprinklers?
Hi everyone! A question I get a lot is “How do you keep the water clean?” Two things help keep the water clean. First is frequent partial water changes. The bird ponds lose a lot of water to evaporation and to birds splashing (and carrying water off with them when they fly away soaking wet). So, I top them off with fresh water just about every day (I don’t have to do this if we get enough rain). While I’m refilling, I spray down the pebbles to wash away any accumulated dirt. The pools have a low spot that allows the excess, dirty, water to flow out and into the gardens. The second thing is mechanical and/or biological filtration. I use filtering based on what people use for fish ponds. On the main bird pond - the one with the water fall flowing over the rocks and into the bathing pool - the pump is in an open water reservoir beyond the bathing pool (basically a small fish pond with no fish) and the pump is in a filter box that helps clean the water. It’s then pumped up to a waterfall filter that further cleans the water. You can find both of these types of filters anywhere that sells fish pond supplies. The woodland stream uses a more natural filtration system in which the bed of pebbles that the pump is buried under serves as a biological filter. Good bacteria and other organisms naturally build up in the stone bed and clean the water. Drawing water down through the bed of pebbles also helps trap sediments. This is based on the bog filter or wetlands filters used for fish ponds. There are a lot of good videos on RUclips about how bog filters work. A channel called OzPonds has some of the best. The puddles doesn’t have filtration because it dries out between rains or refills with the hose, so the water in that is always fresh, and the pool bed there gets baked in the sun between refills. Hope this helps!
Hello! Your bird features are beautiful! I am planning an upgrade to a bird feature and had a question. On your main bird pond, you mentioned pumping water from a reservoir. I assume you have the access water from the pond recirculating into that reservoir to be pumped again. My question is how are you guiding that pond water back into the reservoir? Is it basically an overflow or are you using some other form of guiding the water?
@@wkusmith It’s just gravity fed. When I dug out the reservoir, I piled up that soil to create a slope for the water feature. I contoured the dirt in a way that I thought would direct in down the slope, stopping at a couple pools along the way. After placing the liner and before adding any edging rocks, I tested the water flow to make sure it went where I wanted it to. Of course, it didn’t on the first try 😄. But I just turned off the water, lifted the liner, and adjusted the soil underneath. It took a few tries to get it right.
Only till this video did I realised that it was a lady doing all these projects, well done, not only are you are making the birds happy but all your viewers are enjoying your videos too, thank you.
🙂 I try to stay out of the videos and keep it all about the birds but, yes, I’m a woman in her mid 50s and I do all the projects myself. I keep my projects small and inexpensive. They’re the sort of thing most people could do on their own. Thanks for watching!
My gosh, this really shows how important water is
Yes. I think it’s a good idea to provide plenty of water, and to provide it in multiple locations, different depths, etc.
Im glad you got the Robins to come, that's very special
Always so happy to see them!
love that you showed a simple plate. That's all it takes to get started.
Yes, the birds just want clean, fresh water. They don’t care about fancy. 🙂
Thank you! Your ponds and their visitors are a delight. I was concerned when there was no video last Sunday, so was doubly glad to see this.
I started working in this one for last week but these compilation videos with lots of clips take so much longer to put together. I underestimated the time it would take and didn’t get finished in time. I had fun with it, though and glad you enjoyed watching!
I wish more people cared about wildlife. Most seem to only think of their dogs and cats running loose is being a good owner; but in fact, it is pure heck on wild birds and wildlife, particularly nestling birds. Simply selfish irresponsible behavior.
A Pileated Woodpecker! I've never seen one in person. What a special place you have made for the birds, and our, enjoyment.
Having the Pileated Woodpeckers visit was a real treat! I hear them often in the woods but rarely get a good look at them. Thanks for watching!
I'm jealous of those birds getting to play in these awesome water features
They do seem to enjoy themselves 🙂
I just found your channel. This video makes me very happy and inspires me. Thank you for sharing!
Aww! That’s really nice to hear. Thank you and welcome to the channel! I post a new video every Sunday morning with new bird video footage from the previous week.
@@WarblerRidge I’m starting from the very beginning, listening (and watching 🤫) while I’m working!
😄👍🤫
I meant to tell you, Ms Warbler, that you have also inspired me to make some water features for our dwindling birds. I have myriad bird baths but I only have one in operation on the ground in my backyard. It's static and I change it twice a week. The one on the ground services: Birds, Raccoons, Opossums, Skunks and Mosquitoes (I think maybe lizards, too)! LOL I LOVE your drip plate idea and I have the perfect place to keep an eye out on one of those from my office window. I found a small pump in the trash and it works (it had never been used). But I think, as you say, the birds need to get used to a new feature in their realm. I live in the freaking city with cars and people everywhere, so the errant bird that comes to visit my home sets my heart aflame with joy! Oh, Tennessee! I remembered the song "Rocky Top" when you mentioned that you have lots of rocks where you live. LOL
Yay! I think every little bit of critter-friendly habitat helps, even in more urbanized settings. Probably even more important there. If you’re worried about the mosquitoes at your wildlife pond, there’s an organic product called mosquito dunks that kills mosquito larvae but is safe for wildlife. They work well, but the raccoons stealing mine 😄. Good luck with your dripper and other projects. I’m sure your birds will appreciate it!
Thank you! Very inspiring projects and great pictures of the wild life!
Thanks for watching!
So awesome. I’m in Australia on the east coast on a little island. We have bird life galore here. Mostly large ones like lorikeets,cockatoo, kookaburra,corellas,and then even bigger ones like ibis forest pheasant and the island is full of curlews. I have a family nesting in my backyard at the moment. They are mainly ground birds but can fly. The curlews mainly are active at night and are quite load when they get going. Visitors find it hard to sleep here sometimes. I never knew how much I love birds until I bought this beautiful island property.
Thankyou for some wonderful ideas for water xxx
Your island sounds like a magical place! Thanks for watching and commenting, I appreciate it 🙂
WOW! I really enjoyed your videos! You have given me so many ideas! I share your love of Robins! I get so much joy watching them bathe! Their facial expressions crack me up while they are all wet! I live in the suburbs but have done so many things in my yard to naturlize it for the birds, bees and butterflies. Also have toads and frog ponds. I get such a thrill when migrating birds stop by for a quick visit!
Thank you! I love to see the migrating birds too. The first of the fall warblers just started to arrive here this week. A little earlier than usual. So exciting! Good luck with all your habitat projects, I'm sure the birds and other critters will appreciate your efforts.
The birds obviously like it all. Great work!
Thanks!
Thank you for doing so much for wildlife, especially the birds, my favorite critter. Thank you for filming, your videos are so refreshing.
Thank you. The birds are by favorite critters too. Everyone else gets a supporting character roll 😄
I’m so glad I found you‼️ My home & Town was burnt to the ground 5.5 yrs ago & I’m starting over. You have done exactly what I want to do. Your video has made my plans so much easier.❤️
I’m so sorry about your home. That’s terrible. I hope your bird habitat projects bring you and your birds much happiness!
I could watch this all day!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for showing all your experience! I'm expanding my dishes of water and this is sooo helpful.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck with your projects, I’m sure your birds will appreciate it 🙂
For your next water feature, you could try a marshy wetland with cattails, reeds, and sedges. Even a small marsh is likely to attract wetland birds like common yellowthroats and red-winged blackbirds as well as amphibians and insects.
That’s a good idea. I watched a Phoebe collect moss off the rocks in the woodland stream this spring and thought that a source of mud would probably be helpful for birds too. It would need a sunny, flat spot, and that’s something I don’t have much of here. I’ll give this some thought! It might be my fall project.
Oh, I am STILL coming down from the high I got while watching your beautiful video! And just subscribed! I am an avid bird lover and have a life list that I've kept for 44 years. I want to thank you SO MUCH for helping the birds. They are on rapid decline due to loss of habitat, diseases, chemicals, climate, more!! For you this is a win-win because in addition to helping the birds, you are getting a great joy from observing and having them fill your heart. God bless you.
Aww, thank you so much. And welcome to the channel! I get to add a few for “wins” because, thanks to RUclips, I get to share my birds with people from all over the worlds - and I’ve had several people tell me they’ve been inspired to build bird ponds and do other nice things for their birds. All of that makes me really happy. I post a new Sunday Morning Birds video on Sundays at 6am eastern time. The videos follow the birds on my property through the year. Lots of beautiful colorful summer birds right now. In a few months the migrants will start to arrive. We’ve had a very active fall migration season here the last few years and I’m hoping we see lots of fall birds again this year. Thanks for watching and commenting! I appreciate it!
Love your videos! I just discovered you today and can hardly wait until next year when we move to our own place to build something like this here in the PNW! At the moment, I only have little water features I've made with pots and plates/bowls. Love how natural and serene your bird ponds look! SO relaxing to watch.
Thank you and welcome to the channel! Those little water sources really help too. I’m sure your birds appreciate it! I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy our weekly Sunday Morning Birds videos.
Thanks so much for sharing! I loved seeing all your bird visitors. This is what I want to do at our home. Thanks for the great ideas. Just subscribed!
Thank you and welcome to the channel! Watch for a new Sunday Morning Birds video each week at 6am.
Thank you for sharing your labor of love with us. Your channel brings joy to so many people! New subscriber here😁
Aww, Thank you! I appreciate that. And welcome to the channel 🙂
Love everything! Can you go into more detail on where you construct these ponds? In sun? Shade? How close to treeline? Pump sizes? Mosquito management? Do you have to clean the pumps periodically? I have 13 acres & would like to replicate your ponds.
Hi. The ponds are in part shade. The larger, older one gets shade about half the day and is located on a gardened terrace behind the house (I’m on a fairly steep hillside). There are shrubs and small trees adjacent to that one and it’s about 10 feet from the edge of the woods. The newer woodland stream is actually under the trees, at the edge of the woods. My lot is primarily wooded, with a small clearing for the house. There’s another clearing down by the road and that’s where I’ve been experimenting with the “puddle” project. Each location seems to attract different birds. The woodland stream, in particular, gets woodpeckers, which rarely visit the bird pond. They come down the trunk of the tree that’s right next to the stream and can quickly hop over to the water. I believe I have a 1,000 GPH pump at the bird pond the 600 GPH at the woodland stream. I have flow valves on the return line of both so I can adjust the flow. I’ve found the birds prefer a gentle flow of water. The pumps get cleaned two or three times a year. As long as the water is moving, mosquitoes aren’t a problem. When I was trying to keep water in the puddle, which doesn’t have a pump, I kept a mosquito dunk in there. Something to think about in planning your water features is that they will need daily attention, unless you make yours significantly bigger, with a larger water reservoir. I intentionally kept things small to keep project costs down (and because digging a larger reservoir in my rocky soil would not be fun). Between evaporation and what the birds splash out, I have to top off the water on these once a day. When I’m doing that, I rinse down the stones and gravel to help keep things clean. Hope this helps. Good luck with your project!
What a lovely peaceful place you have. Thanks for the ideas for a natural water hole for the birds
Thank you for watching and I hope there were some ideas you can use.
I’m just dying over this!!!! It’s wonderful. I’m going to build one.
You should! Your birds will be grateful 🙂
Good job! I had a flock of Waxwings visit my birdbath last year and they came back this year, and found the birdbath in the new location. I figured they were migrating because they only came once each time.
Neat! Waxwings are such beautiful birds!
Magnificent!
Thank you!
Love this - what a wonderful haven for the birds!
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
Beautiful!
Thank you and thanks for watching!
Very cool! Makes me anxious for Spring here in Ohio!!!
Thanks! I’m ready for spring too. But, there’s snow headed our way this week, so I guess I’ll have to wait a bit ❄️☃️😄
Thanks so much for this informative (and entertaining) video. I live in an apartment, but I will definitely be building a pond of some kind, based on what I learned from you, if I ever have the space to do it. I do have a concrete pedestal bird bath that gets used - not sure how often. Thanks again!
I hope you get to build your bird pond some day. For now, I bet your birds do appreciate that bird bath! Thanks for watching!
What a beautiful spot you have there, thank you for sharing, subscribed.
Thank you and welcome to the channel!
I have just found two of your videos. They are delightful and informative. I really appreciate them and have learned from them.
Hello and thank you, that’s great to hear!
New subscriber and longtime bird friend. Thanks
Hello! Thanks for watching and welcome to the channel!
It's awesome! I'm glad you finally got your robins. I usually have robins in my front yard, with no feeders or anything. I saw my first robin under my feeders a month or two ago. It wasn't there for the seed, but I'm glad I saw it. I want to do a water feature now. 🙂 Thanks for this video!!
You should definitely do a water feature! Even a tiny one makes a bid difference. And I’m jealous of your robins 🙂 I think my soil is just too rocky for them. Makes it difficult for them to dig up worms
You are such an inspiration, I love learning how to make "happy" Places for the birds, thank you !!!
Aww, thank you! That is so nice to hear.
Very nice projects. If you are looking for more work the water in the large pond might be made to last longer by making a large reservoir and then using a solar pump to circulate the water from the reservoir to the pond with the excess making it's way back to the reservoir. With the large area of the pond and surrounding rocked area the reservoir should fill quickly when it rains. If you wanted to complicate it a bit more a float switch could be added to shut off the pump when the reservoir gets low.
All good ideas, and I know for a lot of people it’s fun to figure things out (and I respect and appreciate that) but I like to keep things simple. And I don’t mind topping off the water every day or two. It’s part of my routine and it provides some nice quiet time in the garden 🙂
❤🎉
Very fun to see the BTS!
Okay, I’m stumped! BTS?
What a beautiful video ❤ I hope to make a bird paradise here Spain… but need to figure out how to keep cats out 🤔
Cats can be a real problem. Elevated bird baths might be best.
Just amazing and peaceful! It was worth all of your effort
Thank you so much!
Me too I love robins 😁 really enjoying your posts thank you
I would be so happy if I could convince some robins to stay for the summer 🙂 Thanks for watching and leaving a comment. It’s always nice to hear from viewers.
You've inspired me to build a mini pond in my yard, thank you! Do I need to worry about the pump freezing?
It depends on where you live. If your winters are long and cold, you might want to remove the pump in the winter. I would worry that pressure from the ice could crack the pump. In my part of Tennessee, the water in my bird ponds only freezes solid a few times a year, so just unplug the pump during cold spells and start it back up when it warms up. For me, the biggest problem is making sure the ponds don’t run dry during the warm season. I killed a pump that way one year. Between evaporation and birds splashing water out of the pools, I have to top everything off with a gallon or two every day. Good luck with your pond! They’re a lot of fun to build and I’m sure your birds will love it.
That is some great advice. Thank you so much for sharing and for the good luck, I'm excited to see it come to fruition!@@WarblerRidge
This is all so inspiring! I'm in awe of all the amazing birds. Those warblers--wow! Thank you for the great footage and the labeling. I'm learning so much. I love how naturalistic the stone formations are.
Where are you located? I'm going to share with my local native gardening group and FB group in S-central PA. Saw a Cape May warbler today (May 10) and hoping there might be more variety nearby. Thank you!
@@FartherTogether Thank you! Inspiring is good! There’s so much we can do to help the birds and other wildlife around us. Even small things make a big difference over time. I’m located on a wooded hillside in the eastern portion of Tennessee. North of Knoxville and near Norris Lake (one of the big TVA flood control/power generation reservoirs). Thank you for sharing the videos. I appreciate that and very much like the idea of being a part of the larger community of native gardening and backyard habitat folks out there.
@@FartherTogether oh, and congratulations on the Cape May Warbler! It’s been a slow spring for warblers here. We’ve had some nasty storm front that I think are either slowing them down or sending them in a different direction. But the Merlin app thought it heard a Black-throated Green this morning, so there may still be more coming through.
Inspiring!
I’ve noticed around my bird baths and small splash ponds, the robins are bullies as they are bigger than most of the visitors
That makes sense. I mainly get smaller birds here. If robins ever decide to take up residence, maybe I could build them a bigger bird pond of their own 🙂
Love ur videos. Love seeing the birds and how you made it from beginning to end. Your videos are clear and have good quality. What camera are you using?
Thank you! I have several older GoPro cameras (GoPro Hero 5 Black) that I use to film the birds. I like how portable they are and being waterproof is a big plus 🙂 Thanks for watching!
You are welcome. Thanks for creating, making and sharing your creations. They are very inspiring and enlightening.😘
Amazing! I'm in the planning phase of building my own backyard stream for the birds. I can't wait to see what I attract. What camera system do you use? These videos are incredible!
Thanks! I use GoPro cameras. I have a couple older Hero 5 Black models that I bought used. Since they’re just sitting there, I don’t really need the advanced image stabilization that the newer models have.
@@WarblerRidge with your GoPro camera, is there WiFi capability, or do you physically take out the SD card and upload to your computer? I'm in the planning phase for a very similar bird stream and would love to capture footage like this in my backyard!
There’s a GoPro app that connects to the camera so you can view and trim clips. I subscribe to GoPro’s cloud storage to upload clips to the cloud so I can download them to my computer from there. But I think you can upload to any cloud service. And you can also save clips to you phone for editing with apps or sharing on social media sites.
Great video. Love the little streams you've created! I have plans to do the same after just providing a small, circular feature with a shallow terra cotta dish, some flat rocks and a small pump last year. I was able to attract over 30 species. Where do you source all of your stone--especially the larger ones?
It’s amazing how many different birds are attracted to water! Good luck with your new project. I’m sure your birds will love it. My property here in Tennessee is on a rocky hillside, so there are rocks everywhere I look. I just gather up what I need for projects. I do buy bags of river pebbles at Lowes to use in the beds of the pools. You might try asking at a local garden center about stones. Or you could use a more readily available alternative like logs, bricks, or pavers as edging. I’ve started using logs and large branches on the edges of my water features so the tree clinging birds like woodpeckers and nuthatches have something to hold onto.
@@WarblerRidgeThanks. It is amazing what running water can attract. I'm in Western New York. I'd like to do something that looks as natural as possible. Do you have to clean these often? I find that my little "fountain" gets a lot of algae growth, though it is in midday sun.
@@cc63 The “puddle” project gets algae in the summer. It’s in full sun with no moving water, so not much I can do about that one. But the other two water features stay pretty clear. The “bird pond” is my oldest water feature and it is set up like a fish pond with no fish. There’s a small open water reservoir beyond the bird bathing areas that holds the pump. This pump is in a filter box and the water is pumped up to a waterfall filter than has biological and mechanical filtration. I clean the filters once a year in the spring. The newer woodland stream and the mini pond have filtration based on bog or wetland filters used in fish ponds. The pump is housed in a container that is buried under a bed of stones. Over time, the stone bed gets filled with organisms that clean the water. These were a bit of an experiment for me but they’ve been working really well. All of my water features get some fresh water added pretty much daily, and when I do that, I use the spray from the garden hose to stir up and rinse out the gravel layers where the birds bathe.
@@WarblerRidgeThanks for the info!
Just found your fabulous channel with no audio. So peaceful. Have you ever tried solar pumps? I do not have a electric outlet available? Do you get your pumps from local shops ( i.e. Ozpond) or Amazon?
Hello and welcome to the channel! I use a solar pump on a small patio fountain. It works fine for that but, of course, only runs when the solar panel is in the sun. I have lots of trees here and lots of shade, so solar doesn’t work very well for me. If you have plenty of sun, I think a solar pump would work okay for a small fountain or water feature. If the water is going to be still for a good number of hours each day, you‘ll want to make sure and add fresh water frequently because still water tends to get nasty pretty quickly. Thanks for watching!
Forgot to respond to the last part. I have purchased pumps and other supplies online and at local home supply stores.
W😍w!!
Amazing, thank you for sharing! Please, how do you keep the pond's water clean?
Thank you! Two things keep the water clean. First is frequent partial water changes. The bird ponds lose a lot of water to evaporation and to birds splashing (and carrying water off with them when they fly away soaking wet). So, I top them off with fresh water just about every day (I don’t have to do this if we get enough rain). While I’m refilling, I spray down the pebbles to wash away any accumulated dirt. The pools have a low spot that allows the excess, dirty, water to flow out and into the gardens. The second thing is mechanical and/or biological filtration. I use filtering based on what people use for fish ponds. On the main bird pond - the one with the water fall flowing over the rocks and into the bathing pool - the pump is in an open water reservoir beyond the bathing pool (basically a small fish pond with no fish) and the pump is in a filter box that helps clean the water. It’s then pumped up to a waterfall filter that further cleans the water. You can find both of these types of filters anywhere that sells fish pond supplies. The woodland stream uses a more natural filtration system in which the bed of pebbles that the pump is buried under serves as a biological filter. Good bacteria and other organisms naturally build up in the stone bed and clean the water. Drawing water down through the bed of pebbles also helps trap sediments. This is based on the bog filter or wetlands filters used for fish ponds. There are a lot of good videos on RUclips about how bog filters work. A channel called OzPonds has some of the best. Hope this helps!
@@WarblerRidge Excellent, thank´s a lot!
How do you winterize the water pump?
I don’t do anything to winterize. It doesn’t stay very cold here in the winter. I’ve found that the pumps will continue to run, even if the temps drop below freezing. The pump is down below ground level, so it’s a little warmer down there. It takes several days in a row with the highs below freezing for the pools to really freeze up. I just watch the forecast and unplug the pumps when it’s going to be really cold and start them back up when things thaw out.
Hi! Wich pump did you use for the new larger bird pond?
I’m pretty sure it’s a 400 gph pump. It’s more powerful than I really needed. I put a control valve on the line that runs to the waterfall so I can control the flow.
@@WarblerRidge Great, thanks!
Does anyone know how to get rid of crows/ravens... im in Ga and we've had peregrins and hamks but the crows keep killing the offspring...😢
That’s terrible. I don’t have any suggestions but maybe someone else will have ideas to share.
I would love to do more water features, but our neighborhood has too many roaming cats. 😢. The entire neighborhood of cats visits my yard to hunt birds, chipmunks, and bunnies. Super annoying.
Argh! That’s terrible. You’re right, though, a ground level water feature is not a good option for you. I love kitties but I keep mine inside. Have you tried one of those motion activated sprinklers?
Looks great but my neighbours feed stray cats and they would kill all birds trying to take a bath.🤬
I’m so sorry. That stinks. But you’re right, something at ground level like this is not a good option if there are a lot of cats around.