not at all sure...

... abut what kind of bird that was, but it was a delight to see it splashing about in the little basin filled with rain water. Sitting here looking out the window, I grabbed the binoculars to observe a happy little bird, giving every thing nearby a shower in the process of getting each feather on it's drenched body soaked. One of the questions children are sure to ask as the learn about their world and inquire about animals is 'where do birds go when it rains?'

I never really thought about the reverse, but it is an equally valid query: Where do they take a bath when it doesn't rain? If they live in places where there is never any rainfall, I assume they fulfill their dietary needs through the food they consume. We know that water is essential to life, and apparently many get the liquids necessary for survival as a by product of the insects and nuts, berries they eat each day.

I've tried to keep the several low containers with supplied with water during the summer months, to provide an accessible supply of refreshment for local wildlife like chipmunks, squirrels, birds, nocturnal things. And tried to periodically empty those basins and refresh to keep the mosquito population as low as possible even though we have had plenteous rainfall over the summer. A report (undocumented) on the Internet made me think that emptying standing water once a week would eventually end the local mosquito problem: they do not travel far in their short lifetime so would not fly great distances to reproduce. And it takes ten days to complete the cycle from egg to mature blood sucker. So if the water they were growing in was emptied every week, it would kill the larva before they could mature and put their point little pokers in flesh to suck from living bodies.

Another happy bird just landed in the basin, sitting out under the trees, in the shade, waiting for the next avian bath. Good cheap fun. So amusing to watch them industriously splashing around, with the next one patiently sitting on the rim waiting, as one splatters water everywhere with great  enthusiasm.