Bird Friendly Solar Fountain

Looking for a fun project for my garden, I stumbled on a YouTube video that showed how to use a solar water fountain to make a birdbath with moving water. Here are a few shots of my new solar-powered bird bath fountain. 

First, I have to tell you how much I cherish the original little fountain that I have on my patio and have featured in several past blog posts. The birds have been visiting it and at times the birdbath gets quite full. LOL, here are a few shots to show you how popular the birdbath is on my patio. 

Oh look, a Hooded Oriole fledgling flies to the birdbath. He is right behind the red-washed male House Finch.

You can see he looks very young. See the natal feather still sticking out the back of his head.

She spots her dad on the avocado tree and takes off.

There is the adult male Hooded Oriole. Another fledgling was also spotted on the tree stump being fed by mom. I love watching the whole oriole family enjoying my yard and fountain.

With all the birds coming to my patio fountain/birdbath, I decided I would like to have a few more birdbaths in the yard for the really shy birds that don't quite make it to my patio. I wanted to put one in my rose garden where it has full sun exposure all day. After I studied a few "How to" videos on YouTube, I ordered a solar water pump from Amazon to create a birdbath. 

What a fun project it was for me to create this birdbath!  First, I went to the local thrift stores to find bowls and objects that could be incorporated into the new water fountain/ birdbath. Here is what I created. 

I took a bowl that I had around, found a small clay pot in my garden supply, gathered some rocks from the yard, and bought a few nick knacks at the thrift store. I found some tubing to fit on the tiny pump and put it all together. LOL, a fun zone in my garden for the birds to get a drink and bathe!

 

Here is a close-up of the back view of the birdbath. Notice that the blue birds have holes in the back so it was not necessary to drill any holes to bring the tubing up from the pump. The clay pot contains the small water pump and the hose brings the water through the bird and loops around to the front to create a little water fall effect. the water pours onto a little tray and finally flows over to the bowl so it circulates back to the pump. The pump is attached to a 8 ft wire that is connected to a small solar panel. As soon as the solar panel is exposed to full sunlight, the pump will start to work.

Here is a shot of the solar panel. It has to face the sun at all times for the fountain to work. The bowl has to be deep enough to hold enough water to make sure the pump is completely submerged underwater at all times or it will be damaged. As long as you set the fountain up so the pump is always underwater and the solar panel is in full sunlight, you will have a working fountain. The fountain will stop immediately if you have any shadow on the solar panel.

 

Here is a photo of the pump, solar panel, and the four different heads that come with your package. The pump is really tiny. it measures about 1" x 1 1/2". The cost is about $11-12 from Amazon. You can spend more but I got the cheapest one. I think they are all about the same. 

If you make one for your garden, remember that if the water splashes out of the bowl, the water level will soon expose the water pump and it will damage it. So always make sure the water splashes back into the bowl. I think I would like to paint this bowl green. There are so many ways to make a fountain for fun.  I hope you will give it a try!

I am hoping to make a few more with thrift store treasures. It is fun and also a way to use recycled items. 

 

Have a great week and stay cool everyone!