red wattlebird bird bath behaviour (1 Viewer)

G'day,.,I used to have a mob of Red Wattlebirds who delighted me by really getting stuck into the bird bath I set up.They would completely submerge and frolick around,preening etc.
But now that I'm at a different location(same suburb)and have another family of Red Wattlebirds visiting many times of day,they don't bother with the same enthusiasm towards this bath as the others did.
They occasionaly have a drink and just jump around the outside of it.
The bath water is very clean and is on a dripping fed system.
The only thing I can think of is that the bath is of a deeper depth and they might not like the bottom appearance.
But these birds are a very confident species so I just don't know if going through heaps of design changes would work.
Any suggestions would be mucho thanko,.,B
>>>>and what is in fact the correct spelling of the Red Wattlebird,or is it Red Wattle Bird ?

Red Wattlebird is the correct spelling, but I've got no idea about the birdbath question

John

Hmmm I haven't studied wattlebirds beyond trying to work out what it means when they clack their beak. But I did my major in animal behaviour looking at risk assessment. Apart from what you already mentioned, I would consider differences between the two environments, such as is the new place more noisy, are they more prone to predators sneaking up due to more cover etc. Is there a cat or dog in the yard next door?

If there isn't anything obvious there may be a difference in personality between the clans, which doesn't really get discussed very much because it is so difficult to quantify these kinds of behavioural variation.