Looking for information on which materials are bird safe, or which materials are not bird safe, when building a water feature for song birds. We'd also appreciate information on building a DIY water filter that would take out pathogens.
The idea came a couple days ago from a youtube showing 30 humming birds hanging out on a single bubbler. For proof of utility, I drilled a 1/2" hole in a 8"x8"x6" chunk of landscape lava rock, connected a $12 submersible 120v pump to the rock with on-hand vinyl tubing, and suspended the rock over a reservoir (5 gallon food-grade buck). Quick and dirty and very well attended for drinks and baths not only by our target species, Anna's humming birds, but also all our usual locals. It's the cutest thing to see any them do full head plunges into the bubbler proper, which is 1.5" to 2" high. A red breasted nuthatch is in lead on that score at this point. We decided on the chunk of red lava rock because it's coarseness ought to provide very secure footing compared to, say, glazed ceramic.
It's working. So now we're going to diy something more permanent, and incorporate a pathogen filter, are looking for advice on materials and filters. A big worry is any salmonella from the pine siskins transferring to other species. Examples of some materials we're unsure of are galvanized metal, copper, raw cement, cedar wood, various paints, grates from an old BBQ grill, etc. We might cast something out of concrete and seal it with melted wax instead of paint or epoxy. For a filter, we're thinking of a diy 24" washed-sand filter, or maybe a UV light in the reservoir.
The idea came a couple days ago from a youtube showing 30 humming birds hanging out on a single bubbler. For proof of utility, I drilled a 1/2" hole in a 8"x8"x6" chunk of landscape lava rock, connected a $12 submersible 120v pump to the rock with on-hand vinyl tubing, and suspended the rock over a reservoir (5 gallon food-grade buck). Quick and dirty and very well attended for drinks and baths not only by our target species, Anna's humming birds, but also all our usual locals. It's the cutest thing to see any them do full head plunges into the bubbler proper, which is 1.5" to 2" high. A red breasted nuthatch is in lead on that score at this point. We decided on the chunk of red lava rock because it's coarseness ought to provide very secure footing compared to, say, glazed ceramic.
It's working. So now we're going to diy something more permanent, and incorporate a pathogen filter, are looking for advice on materials and filters. A big worry is any salmonella from the pine siskins transferring to other species. Examples of some materials we're unsure of are galvanized metal, copper, raw cement, cedar wood, various paints, grates from an old BBQ grill, etc. We might cast something out of concrete and seal it with melted wax instead of paint or epoxy. For a filter, we're thinking of a diy 24" washed-sand filter, or maybe a UV light in the reservoir.
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