The View from St Francis Cottage - A Chattanooga Bed and Breakfast

A Bird Bath for St Francis Cottage

Brown Thrasher cooling off in our present birdbath.

We absolutely love watching and listening to the many native bird species that dwell upon, or visit our property, from the Eastern Bluebird and the preverbal Cardinal, to woodpeckers, owls and hawks.  What a wonderful way to begin our day by watching the smaller birds feast at the bird feeders or splash around in the bird bath.  

Bluebird pair on our Bluebird House

This summer I have been searching for suitable bird baths for St Francis Cottage so our guests can enjoy the exquisite birds of Eastern Tennessee.  The back wall of the B&B great room is lined with windows with a view to the gardens and reception area, so I can’t think of better entertainment as our guests sit down for breakfast, either indoors or on the back porch or deck. 

Windows in Great Room and part of the porch/deck of
St Francis Cottage under construction.

The bird baths we really like are well out of our price range, so that’s when Plan B kicked in.  Wallace mentioned the other day that the construction workers had left-over bricks from building a culvert wall for our driveway entrance, so we both agreed that we could put them to good use for a future project.  

Then I just happened to stumble across a post by Garden Gate Magazine on making a bird bath, and problem solved!  Do you happen to have some bricks or pavers lying around that need a mission?  Check out these photos and see if they interest you. 

Robins Nesting Place offered another brick-based style that’s equally appealing. Wallace plans to secure ours with mortar, however, it’s not necessary as shown in these photos.

http://robinsnestingplace.blogspot.com/search/label/birdbath

Please remember that water in a bird bath should not exceed three inches, so if you use a deeper bowl for the bath portion, place pebbles or rocks in it so the birds can perch on them.  Also, clean water is primary to the overall health of birds, so changing the water daily is important, especially if it is readily used by your native bird population.

Here's a link to the how-to from Garden Gate Magazine.

Now go creatively help the birds cool off!