“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.” ~ Sylvia Plath
∞
Temperatures took a quick plunge into the low 20’s for the first time in a very long time here in the Houston, Texas region. The Gulf Stream keeps it generally warmish this time of year (in the 40’s), so the birds aren’t used to arriving to a frozen solid bird bath.
Time to crank up the hot tub!
Two pots of boiling water brought the water temp to right at 50 degrees and steaming. For us nature types, it’s just sit and wait from there — in the warm inside space. It didn’t take long for the first party goers to arrive.
For the first time that we’ve seen ever, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet came in to dunk himself for a while, as well as a Carolina Wren, whose ‘backing in’ style cracked us all up. We usually only see these two species sip and run. They don’t stay long.
But the Yellow-rumped Warblers are always the splashy sprinkler type. They seem to really enjoy their baths and will converge in numbers to the clean, warm water.
Even the Tufted Titmouse came to drink long enough for me to get a decent photo.
But Wilson’s Warbler and his cute-factor wins the prize!
Stayin’ Dry Here.
Hey Lady! Whatcha Doin?
We believe this to be the same individual that returns to our yard every single winter without fail. The kids have named him Tweety.
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I like the upside-down-gurgling-with-head-in-the-water picture. Hope I described that correctly.
Happy 2020!
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Ha! Described perfectly. Happy New Year to you and Eve too. Turning out to be an excellent 2020. Guess who’s new class director for Spring TMN Training?
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Now you can tell people you’ve got class.
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I am still smiling at your photos! 😊
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My yard birdies tend to do that!
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The birds are fantastic. And what, pray tell, species is the teapot?
60 degrees, eh? We’d settle for anything above freezing.
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Ha! It’s a ‘Whistle Pig’, though no resemblance to the Rocky Mountains rodent. When the water’s boiling he whistles, so the name stuck.
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The water source is the biggest draw other than feeders, and what a great refuge in cold times. Great photos too, Shannon.
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I love the bird bath the best! It’s hard sometimes moving away from my ‘TV screen’ (aka window). But I wish we would get just a tad more cold weather here. The mosquitoes this year are going to be horrible without that extended deep freeze, and I’m still wearing flip-flops.
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oh how cool! those are summer birds where I live 🙂
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And you get many which we would never see this far south. I love ‘virtual birding’ on WP. This way, we get to see them all, any time of the year. Thanks for coming by, Hazel!
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Me too!
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Fantastic photos, so love Tweety’s inquisitive pose!
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He sure makes me smile! His taking a bath — kids singing their Tweety song — embedded in the post at the end is fun too. He’s a welcome winter visitor for sure, brightens any drab yard.
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Beautiful!
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I agree! 😀
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