There’s a small stone bird bath in the garden – sometimes a Blackbird takes an enthusiastic bath where the water seems to fly everywhere as it flaps its wings, or a Robin might take a bath while another small bird bathes in the plant saucer we’ve put on the step at the base of the main bird bath.
But I didn’t think it would be large enough for a Wood Pigeon to sit in….
….obviously I was wrong!
Unlike the smaller birds, this Wood Pigeon wasn’t flinging the water everywhere, but simply sat in the cool water. Fanning its feathers and raising its wings every now and then, it seemed to enjoy the water as a way of cooling down on a hot day. The bird bath is slightly angled, so one end is a little deeper than the other, and the pigeon seemed to take advantage of that; not content with sitting that way around the entire time, it stood up and turned around to face the opposite direction, before lowering itself back into the water again.
After a while of us watching, it flew off into a nearby tree, leaving us to top up the water in the bird bath again before any more birds feel the need for refreshment!