Would you like to add a Chestnut-sided Warbler to your yard list? Try adding a home-made water dripper to provide the sound of water. The simple refillable water dripper can bring new local and migrating birds to your yard. The simple refillable water dripper can bring new local and migrating birds to your yard.

As birds complete their nesting activities and new fledglings search for food and water, it’s a good time to do something extra to attract birds to your yard and feeding station. Some birds may come from a nearby location; others may have nested hundreds of miles away. You can improve your chances of attracting any roving birds or early migrants by adding the sound of water to your yard. One way to test the attraction of moving water is to add a simple water drip – and install it almost anywhere you wish. Here’s an easy project that may surprise you by attracting new birds, including migrating warblers, to your yard.

- All you need is an empty one gallon plastic milk container. Rather than recycling it, give it a second life as a water dripper.

- Next, poke a very small hole in the bottom corner of the plastic jug opposite from the handle – a very small hole. Try using a thin stick pin – the smaller the hole the better, or your dripper will be a streamer, and the gallon of water in your jug will be emptied quickly.

- Actually though, the water will drip at varying rates, depending on how much water is in the jug – when the jug is full, water drips or tinkles out faster; but as the water level drops in the jug, fewer drops fall at a slower rate. So you may start with a thin stream of water, but soon it will slow to a steady drip, drip, drip rate.

- Select a place where you can hang your drip container. It may be a low tree branch, a plant hanger, or you can add a shepherd’s crook or another hanger that will support the weight of a gallon of water. It’s best to position the home-made dripper in a sheltered area where wind won’t affect the water drops, and you may need to adjust the distance from the dripper to the catch basin.

- Next, position a shallow bird bath below the hanging dripper, or place a shallow bowl or basin that will hold a half-inch of water below the container, preferably on a raised pedestal or another elevated option where birds will be better protected from potential predators.

- Add a little water to the bowl to get an appreciation for the dripping sound of the water, and you’re in business. Another positioning concern is that the water bowl or basin will fill with water and drip over the edge of the container, but if you’re outside, a little extra water on the ground is usually a good thing.

- Finally, the catch is that you will need to fill the water dripper with another gallon of water periodically – essentially, whenever you want – once a day, twice a day, when the jug is empty; it’s your choice day to day.

It will take a level of patience and enthusiasm to refill your new dripper periodically, but when new birds become attracted to your dripping water feature, it will become more fun than it is a chore. And that’s what it’s all about – enjoying the new birds that are attracted to your yard or window feeding station – warblers, thrushes, orioles, finches, buntings, and other colorful and interesting birds.

Materials

In review, you will need an empty plastic gallon milk jug, a shallow bowl or basin, and a gallon of water to make this simple dripper.

The Photography Option

This simple water dripper was originally used by bird photographers who set up this highly mobile water feature to attract songbirds to photograph at a blind set up in a desert birding hotspot, or a migration stopover site where these water drippers proved themselves immediately by attracting local and migrating birds within camera range.

You may want to try this photo setup yourself, either in your yard, or in the field, while on vacation, or during a business trip. Some of the best bird photographers swear by the effectiveness of this water dripper setup, so imagine how well it will work in your yard.

Be sure to position the water drip in a location with good natural sunlight, and you may want to surround the shallow water basin with natural rocks, a small decorative log or soil from the surrounding area to make the water feature look like part of the landscape and provide a pleasing background for photography.

An important extra ingredient is to add a perch near the basin for birds to land on before they commit to the water basin. It may be the aforementioned small log or a branch positioned vertically in the ground that gives birds an elevated perch, and provides you with an additional photo site in addition to the water feature.

The bottom line is that the best way to attract the most diverse assortment of birds is by providing fresh water, and the sound of moving water – dripping water – will improve the attraction of any water feature to birds.

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