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Birds find water by sound before they find it by sight. A still bowl has to be stumbled across; a bowl with moving water in it carries, and birds will divert to it from well outside your garden. That single fact is why a fountain pump turns a bird bath from garden ornament into the busiest thing you own.
Moving water also solves the problem that kills most bird baths. Mosquitoes need still water to lay in — disturb the surface and they go elsewhere. Circulation slows the algae bloom too, for the same reason a stream stays clearer than a puddle.
The pump runs on sunlight, with no wiring
The fountain is solar-powered and free-floating: no cable to bury, no outdoor socket, nothing to switch on. It starts when the sun hits it and stops when the light goes. That does mean it is not running on a heavily overcast day — worth knowing rather than discovering.
Twelve inches across, and shallow
The bowl is 12 inches wide and about 2 inches deep, which is the right shape rather than an accident of design. Songbirds will not bathe in deep water; they want to stand with water below the belly, and a shallow wide bowl lets several birds use it at once instead of one at a time. Wide also means space to land, which matters to anything bigger than a finch.
Hangs from three chains, not one
Three separate iron chains with S-hooks, each about 18 inches, so the bowl sits level and does not tip or spin when a bird lands off-centre. Rust-resistant, and long enough to clear a branch or a shepherd's crook.
The bowl itself is polypropylene rather than ceramic or concrete — lighter to hang, and it will not crack when water freezes in it, which is what ends most stone baths after a hard winter.
Specifications
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Bowl diameter: 12 in, approx. 2 in deep
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Material: Polypropylene
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Colour: Brown
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Hanging: Three iron chains with S-hooks, approx. 18 in
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Fountain: Solar pump included, 13 mm outlet
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Assembly: None — hang it and fill it
Questions people ask
Does the fountain work on cloudy days?
It needs direct light on the panel to run. On a bright overcast day it may pulse on and off; in heavy cloud it stops. It restarts by itself when the sun returns.
How deep should the water be?
An inch to an inch and a half is ideal for songbirds. Deeper is not better — birds avoid water they cannot stand in. A few pebbles in the middle give smaller birds somewhere shallow to perch.
How often do I change it?
Every two to three days in warm weather, weekly when cool. Rinse and brush at the same time.
Can I leave it out in winter?
The bowl will handle freezing better than stone will, but take the pump indoors before the first hard frost — ice in the impeller is what breaks solar fountains.
Where should I hang it?
In sun, so the panel works, and within about ten feet of cover so birds have somewhere to retreat to. Not directly over a patio, for obvious reasons.
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