Tips to Make Your Birdbath Better

All birds need water to drink, bathe, and preen, and adding even a simple bird bath to your yard can be helpful. Here are eight simple ways you can improve your birdbath.

 1. Keep It Clean: Dirty water is not as attractive as fresh, clean water. Clean and disinfect your birdbath with a solution of nine parts water and one part bleach every few days, and remove any leaves, feathers, or other debris daily to keep the water clean as long as possible.

2. Get a Grip: Birds need a rough surface to feel secure when perching to drink from a birdbath. If your birdbath is smooth and does not provide that type of grip, add several perches along the edge to make it easier for birds to use.

3. Move Along: Moving water is better than stagnant water, and birds will see the reflections of the moving water and hear the splashes from a great distance, attracting more friends to the water source. Add a dripper or wiggler to your existing bird bath, or investigate birdbaths with built in bubblers or fountains.

4. Rock the Bath: Adding a few medium-sized rocks to the birdbath will vary the water depth so smaller birds can feel more comfortable. Choose rocks that can also provide a grip for the birds and that are tall enough to poke out of the water to create extra perches.

5. Take It Up (or Down) a Level: Birdbaths with multiple levels can cater to more thirsty birds. Adding a saucer or extra dish on the ground at the base of a bird bath can be especially effective to let ground-feeding birds and larger species enjoy the water source.

6. Stick It Out in All Seasons: Birds need water year round, no matter what the weather or temperature. Investigate a heated birdbath for winter use, and place birdbaths in the shade during the summer to keep them cool and fresh longer.

7. Be Perfect With Perches: Adding nearby perches gives bathing birds a place to preen and dry off after using the bath, and thirsty birds may use perches while waiting their turn to drink. Plant bird-friendly landscaping near the birdbath with trees and bushes for perching, or use garden hooks and other decorations for instant perches.




8. Fill 'Er Up: Always keep a birdbath filled, even if it means adding a cup or two of water to the bath daily in the hottest weather. Birdbaths lose a lot of water to evaporation, and a bathing bird can splash a lot of water out of the basin. If the bath isn't filled, it isn't much use to the birds.

- Article courtesy of Melissa Mayntz, www.agway.com

Some Things To Look Forward To In The Afternoon Wonderwise Labs!

This experiment involved investigating a frozen balloon which made a huge ice cube, to which we added food coloring, rock salt, table salt, and anything else we could get our hands on! 

 

Have you ever wondered what one strawberry's DNA looks like? Well here it is! All those nucleotides rolled up into a visible coil. Pretty cool huh?! We completed this experiment with only common household items!

 Last but not least, this is the pasta tower challenge. Participants are given one yard of tape, one yard of string, twenty uncooked spaghetti sticks, and one giant marshmallow. The winner is the group with the tallest tower with marshmallow on top that stands up without support after fifteen minutes. And the winner is.... the group with your very own M. Dayon! Our tower, pictured here, stands at 27 inches. Can you beat this?

A special shout out to the wonderwise group, PASA, and my group mates including Liz and Alexis! We had such a blast getting trained on how to be better teamleaders so we can share the knowledge with all of you!

Note to Parents and Educators: We came home with a booklet of lots of other fun science projects you can do with simple household items. For more project ideas, or the list of materials and procedures for the above experiments, email me at edayon_8185@email.ric.edu Thanks!

A Six Word Story for US!

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a story in just six words. The result: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Hemingway regarded it as his greatest work. This idea for the "Six Word Story" has been borrowed by artists and educators the world over, as can be found following this clickable link.

We've just created one to get our enthusiasm flowing for the upcoming summer session. What do you think?

A Message from Blackstone Parks Conservancy

Garlic mustard is an invasive species, and, pretty as it is, it doesn’t belong in your garden.
The problem with invasive, or alien, species is that they often crowd out the native plants on which wildlife depends for food. Their strategies for success include a long growing season, deep tap roots for obtaining water, and chemicals that inhibit neighboring plants from thriving.
If you find garlic mustard anywhere, please remove it as follows:

1. Either cut the stem below the point where the leaves and stems emerge from the root (the crown). This has the advantage of not disturbing the soil and thus encouraging buried seeds to sprout.
 2. Or just pull it up.
In either case, if you think the plant has seed pods, please discard it in your trash.