Water for Wildlife
Photo: Mike Davis
Water for Wildlife
Art Crowe
Flows in the Blanco River at Wimberley are approaching those of the historic drought of the mid-1950s. Swimming has been suspended indefinitely at Jacob’s Well due to low flows, which have caused elevated bacteria counts. The United States Drought Monitor has Hays County in the extreme category. There is no doubt these are dry times that will likely continue through the summer. This is a critical time for wildlife as well. If you can, set out a pan of water for the wildlife. They will show up. This is also a great opportunity to put out a game camera to discover what sort of wildlife you have around your house at night. You may be surprised.
I have five different watering stations that I maintain. The one pictured below is a simple stainless steel dog bowl, which I fill with two gallons of water. This lasts two nights before it needs refilling. I collected over 300 nighttime photos over the course of a week with my game cam at this watering bowl. The three mammal species I observed were deer, raccoon, and fox. The interesting thing with time-stamped photos is that you can determine if there are patterns to when your wildlife show up. There were no patterns whatsoever with my critters. All three species came through almost every night, sometimes multiple times, but never the same time from one night to the next.
Bird baths are great for birds, not so great for mammals. Consider putting your bird bath under a large bush. Birds feel more comfortable when they have cover close by to perch in before deciding to take the plunge.
But if you really want to attract birds, put a bird bath under a faucet, and let the faucet drip a drop every second or so. I really think birds can hear the difference. This water feature is less than 50 feet from the bird bath, but it routinely attracts four to five times as many birds. Remember to put a stone or stick into all your water features to allow reptiles and amphibians a way out.
If you check your water features every two to three days, you should be fine. You should also check your hummingbird feeders every three to four days. That’s about the time it takes for a fresh batch of sugar water to ferment in this summer’s record-setting heat. When the sugar water goes from clear to opaque, that’s a sign that it has started to ferment. I have been putting out half as much sugar water in my feeders each time and changing them twice as often as I used to. That’s using up the same amount on sugar, but the hummers are getting fresher stuff. As fast as those guys fly, you don’t want them flying under the influence.
In this summer’s scorching heat, seeing the critters safe and refreshed keeps us all a little cooler.
Photo: Mike Davis