[Mnbird] heated bird bath question

Charter avocet13 at charter.net
Sun Dec 16 10:26:39 CST 2018


I have had starlings freeze in my bath in extreme cold, 10 below type weather, yes it can happen. If you keep it full you can put a quarter inch mesh across the top. So they can still get there beak through. Obviously nothing big enough they can stick their head into or other body parts to get stuck. I wouldn’t use the standard chicken type wire. Not sure Why it’s more starling house sparrow specific.
Is it I don’t know any better or does it have to do with the amount of oil in their feathers?
Waterfowl obviously do not have this issue. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 16, 2018, at 5:44 AM, Susan Kennedy via Mnbird <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
> 
> I have a very popular heated bird bath, with many species coming for a drink in the below freezing weather.  This year it is very busy with the large number of robins staying the winter eating hackberries.  I see that the non-native house sparrows and starlings will sometimes bathe in the very cold weather, but not the native ones.  I never see frozen birds after this happens, so does this mean that they survive the bathing?  It seems an odd sight in the very cold weather.
> 
> Susan Kennedy in SW Mpls.
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