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Anna’s Hummingbirds at the Waterfall: Birds Can’t Resist Moving Water


If you want to attract birds to your yard you need three main attributes, food, shelter and water. For most song birds, a water source is essential for both drinking and bathing, and if you have a choice, running water is your best bet. Birds can’t resist moving water, as demonstrated by the Anna’s Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) in the video above.

It’s been almost ten years since we built a water feature off our back porch and we love it.

Ponds and Waterfalls

The sound of running water is not only soothing to the soul, it attracts all kinds of birds and other critters, especially if you live in an area that has few water sources available.

A water feature like this, with a pond, does require quite a bit of maintenance, especially if you add fish to the pond. There is an alternative however if you want to have all the benefits of the soothing sound of the water and the visual waterfall, without all the maintenance.  It is called a pondless or vanishing waterfall. This is how it works.

Instead of a pond at the bottom of the waterfall, the water cascades down a short stream and dumps into a pondless basin where the water pump lives.  It pumps the water though a hose back up to the top of your waterfall where the process starts all over again.  The pump chamber and pump are covered with rock and the flowing water disappears into the rock.

Vanishing Waterfall

The great thing about this flowing water system is that all you have to do is fill up the basin with water occasionally or include an automatic fill valve and you’re good to go!

Pondless Waterfall

Even a water fountain that includes some splashing water will attract more birds than a simple bird bath, but a bird bath is better than nothing.  To prevent smaller species of birds from drowning, make sure to place some rocks in bird baths and water fountains if they are too deep (over 2 inches).

Here are some of the birds that have enjoyed our water feature over the years, starting with the

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

American Goldfinch

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Female

House Finch

Nashville Warbler (Oreothlypis ruficapilla)

Nashville Warbler

Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)

Pine Siskin

Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) Juvenile

Western Scrub-Jay

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Mourning Dove

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) Juvenile

Black-headed Grosbeak

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Cedar Waxwing

Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) Male

Evening Grosbeak Male

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

and one of my favorites, the Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) Juvenile Male

Acorn Woodpecker

To see more great bird photos, check out Wild Bird Wednesday and The Bird D’pot!

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • TexWisGirl July 16, 2013, 7:37 am

    just awesome!

  • Frank (The Early Birder) July 16, 2013, 1:46 pm

    Definitely worth the effort to see all those species enjoying the water.

  • Anni @ I'd Rather B Birdin' July 16, 2013, 2:18 pm

    That warbler on the lily pad is awesome. You took some very TERRIFIC photos and so glad you shared them all with us.

  • Eileen July 16, 2013, 2:22 pm

    The water feature is a great attraction for all the wildlife. Wonderful post on your pond and the all the great birds.

  • Lisa Isabella Russo July 16, 2013, 7:52 pm

    Love all the bird shots! We’d like to have some kind of bird bath/fountain here, but we’re not very handy… Yours is lovely!

  • Mia McPherson July 17, 2013, 3:44 pm

    Larry, what a great assortment of birds at your pond! I used to have a pond and it brought all kinds of wildlife & birds to it. Thanks for this post and bringing back some wonderful memories too.

  • ken schneider July 18, 2013, 7:18 am

    That video is so cool– the hummers are really enjoying themselves! In New Mexico water was so scarce that I had a Black-throated Gray Warbler come right up to me when I was watering some flowers. Here in Florida there is so much water that it seems not to hold any special attraction.

  • Wally July 18, 2013, 1:16 pm

    Larry, what a nice job you’ve done with that water feature! And your hard work obviously paid off!! Superb images of your visitors!

  • Mary Howell Cromer July 19, 2013, 5:15 am

    How wonderful Larry and of all that you shared the video clip of the hummingbird bathing…I so enjoyed that and had never seen such a sweet clip before with any hummers. Great post~