Good Morning!
Every morning while drinking my coffee I like to gaze out into my garden & watch the city birds. I never thought that I would enjoy bird watching but I’ve always liked to listen to their chirps so watching them was a natural progression.
I always had a beautiful red ceramic bird feeder in my back patio that I rarely used but last year I decided I would make a conscious effort to use it. I had great luck in bringing in a few different birds with it & decided that this year I would create my own bird garden.
I have a Juliet balcony off my master bedroom that I hang herbs off of so I decided I would add bird bowls off the bannister
I have an unusually tall & thin rail on my balcony so there weren’t many brackets for me to choose from. Ok, they’re was 1. 1 bracket in all my research that would fit my rail and it is this formidable iron bracket that is probably stronger than Valerian Steel
Rail Mounted Bracket for Threaded Birdbath
They needed threaded bird baths. I wanted something pretty, since I would be staring at them all the time, & small, since they were near my window doors. I came across these threaded copper bowls which are small but deeper than a normal birdbath.
Achla Designs Heart Shaped Birdbath and Feeder
Last year I had a young Cardinal that would come visit for seed. This year he came back… And he came back with a girlfriend! I noticed that she was pretty shy & going out in the tree while he would hop on down the seed in the floor. I also noticed the Mourning Dove pair would eat seed off the floor too. After some research I learned that birds like Cardinals & Morning Doves like to eat off of flat areas & prefer platform type feeders. Well, I don’t much like eating off the floor so I decided to add a platform feeder to my growing bird garden.
Next was water! I knew birds like to splash themselves around in water & I figured a column birdbath would add a nice detail in the garden. I bought a birdbath that had a nice size bowl & a place for flowers.
I added a pile of rocks to give bees & butterflies a place to rest & sip. Originally I wanted a fountain but I don’t have any electrical outlets in my back patio so I went with a solar pump. The pump wasn’t necessarily a bust but my garden is way too shady & it didn’t work on a consistent basis as much as I would have liked. Birds are attracted to moving water & it’s required to have moving water in your birdbath if you don’t want mosquitos. So I replaced the solar fountain with water wigglers
I put up a citrus feeder to attract birds like Orioles. Apparently Orioles like to eat nectar! I didn’t not know that! My citrus feeder hasn’t seemed to work yet but I’m not giving up on it yet!
I added a bird house just in case it may serve a purpose! It’s specifically for bluebirds but I saw another type of bird checking it out the other day & that’s ok!
Its kind of nice having my little Urban Forest back here. I was not expecting for my bird garden to become as popular as it has but the word has gotten out!
I also have some exciting news! I noticed my mourning dove pair had started nesting in one of my hanging pots off my Juliet balcony!
The other day I was checking in on them because we had a crazy strong storm over night & I was a bit worried, but they were dry & happy and when they went to stretch their legs I saw an egg!
I’M GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE! How exciting is this? I hope the little guy makes it through! It would be fun to see a little fledgling birdie grow up!
The Kitchen Coven 