When public pools were first built during the WPA years, I am sure naysayers complained about wasting water and effort. However, during days of summer temperatures registering in the 90s or better, cool town water parks draw young and old like a magnet draws iron filings. On our hilltop, we’ve created the equivalent of the public pool for our resident birds.
As heat builds, wicking away moisture and leaving dusty creek beds, we place pans of water under nearby trees and bushes for our chickens. I expected local birds would visit, but the crowds approach Disney tourist proportions. These are especially a haven for adult birds parenting just-fledged adolescents. Their crazy behaviors lead to funny scenes at the local “pool.”
Young robins with mottled coloring and spindly bodies remind me of 6th and 7th graders who’ve reached adult height but haven’t yet filled out. Their parents come to drink and groom circumspectly. Their offspring come to quench their thirst and end up splashing half the water out of the container.
Orioles behave more cautiously regardless of age. Mature birds and adolescents come to the water alert and prepared to flee at the least disturbance. When juvenile robins join them, the bright orioles leave immediately. House finches and sparrows also tend, like their kin the orioles, to be businesslike in their drinking habits, focusing on function and skipping frivolity.
A flicker youngster and its mother refreshed themselves yesterday and discovered tasty insects in a nearby elm. Watching mom teach her baby to crawl up the coarse bark and pick out insects consumed at least 15 minutes of my morning.
Mom successfully pecked gourmet delights out of the rough texture. However, her offspring hunted without victory until the mother regurgitated insect chunks into its wide-open beak. I imagine she’ll be glad when that full-size child finds its own dinner.
To add to the entertainment, raucous blue jays are a rowdy bunch at the waterhole. They never come one or two at a time. A gang soon follows the first jay landing on the dish’s edge. It’s the equivalent of neighborhood kids agreeing to meet at the pool at the same time. Once these troublemakers arrive, even the chickens back off.
These pretty but noisy birds are the equivalent of bullies who push and dunk everyone else. By the time they finish splashing around, I have to rinse feathers out of the remaining water and refill the container.
Ironically, one little visitor challenges the blue jays to the water. We have a juvenile squirrel who sunbathes by the water pans. He doesn’t mind the other creatures who come to drink as long as the family dog is secured inside the house.
No matter how wild and crazy the robins and jays splash, that little squirrel lays outside the dish, preening like he’s in the shower. Between feathered visitors, he pulls himself up on the pan’s lip to slurp his fill.
While these water dishes aren’t permanent like a WPA pool, they serve the same purpose of providing refreshing breaks from summer heat. The lady watching from inside an air-conditioned house enjoys plenty of entertainment as well.
Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.