This spring we decided to put a birdbath up so we could watch them do their grooming while we sat on the deck and enjoyed a coffee. We bought a ceramic shallow dish that was meant to go under a large planter believing that anything deeper than an inch would be too risky for the birds and really didn't want to be lifeguarding or performing cpr on a feathered friend. Well the resident robin arrived, checked out the water, squatted then immediately left and made a bee line for the dogs stainless steel water bowl, at least five inches deep! He did manage to throw me a dirty look and give me a disgruntled chirp before abandoning what we thought was the safest bath tub. So I informed my husband that we had to go shopping for a new bird bowl. After an afternoon of finding unsuitable or way too expensive "tubs", we went to Winners and found a beautiful robins egg blue (serendipity re the color?) hand crafted ceramic bowl from Portugal and brought it home for "approval". The robin quickly approved and claimed it as his and his only. Not even his poor mate was allowed to land on it. We named him Cassnova as he would work on building his nest most of the day and then bath twice a day so he would be appealing to his mate. It worked and they had four babies not long after. Poor Casanova would make a quick stop on his way to find worms for the kids but he had no time for bathing anymore and with a wistful look at the bowl would be off to search for wigglers. Here's the big guy enjoying his grooming.
