My chickens are keen bathers. It’s not uncommon to find all three of them in a “tub” together. Their tubs of preference are in my sage and parsley bed (not my favourite option) and in the ginger bed. Here they were in harmonious bliss overflowing their ginger tub in the morning sun yesterday.
Bronwyn offering a prayer of thanks for the best bathtub in the world
Action shot with Isabel getting a good underarm dusting
The other “tub” in our garden is the birdbath Frank installed. This bath is visited in fits and starts by lots of native flying-fauna as the rains come and go.
Rainbow Lorikeet in the gum tree
Mr. & Mrs. Lorikeet
No doubt the sun glistening off the surface of the water this week has drawn in lots of critters. In the past 24 hours I’ve witnessed a currawong, a couple of noisy miners, a pair of lorikeets (she bathed while he did a mating dance on the edge of the bath then he flew up to our bird house, stuck his head in and out a few times – will they move in? – before chasing her through the trees) and a bunch of bees; all visitors taking advantage of the water to either bathe or get a good drink.
Bees drinking in the birdbath
This bee is not interested in risking drowning in the birdbath
I have such a small garden yet it still attracts, protects and nourishes so much life, even if it’s just for a quick bath!
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
Some of the smallest gardens seem to host some of the biggest variety of wildlife…my balcony garden was like that last year too. I always love seeing pictures of the wild birds in Australia…they’re so colorful compared to here in the states. I do own a Galah here and can’t believe how abundant they are in the wild there!
Balcony gardens always amaze me. I really struggle with most plants in pots. They require a lot more care when the summer sun is at its fiercest.
Yes, our birds are amzing. We get a large variety of parrots here but for some reason no Galahs. Outside of Sydney they are easy to find but maybe they don’t like all the cars here.
Container gardens can be a lot of work at times…I felt like I was watering 2-3 times a day last year. However, I did some amending to the soil I was using and it is holding moisture much, much better. It’s been hotter and dryer this summer and the most I water is once a day, but a lot of times I get away with watering every other day. There’s really only a couple plants that need a closer eye. I also invested in a watering hose so I didn’t have to run back and forth with a watering can. Lol.
I’m a little surprised to hear about the Galahs staying outside the city. They have large flocks, don’t they? Maybe it’s because of the flock size versus available space? Love the lorikeets there…such colorful birds…real characters too!
I lived for a while in Perth and they were everywhere there but it’s rare to see galahs in Sydney. We get a lot of lorikeets, cockatoos and rosellas to make up for it – not a bad compensation! Cockatoos flock a lot more than galahs do though you often see them in a group as well.
I hear you about using a hose rather than a watering can – so much quicker. In Sydney we often have water restrictions – at their worst you can only water with a watering can. Luckily we had a wet summer so now we can use a hose again. I have rainwater tanks which means I can water any time and as much as I want. My plants thank me for it.
I’d say that’s a pretty good swap in place of the Galahs. It’s still so hard to imagine these birds flocking like they do, but I guess that’s why they can make great companion pets.
Having water restrictions must be really rough on watering there. I couldn’t imagine running around with a watering can more than I already do. The rainwater tanks must be life saver for your plants though! Sometimes I leave out a little bucket to catch the water run off from the roof so I can water my plants with it…been working really well so far. I also use the water from my container pond when I do water changes. Why waste something as precious as water?
Australia is a big desert fringed by moist belts. Water is a huge deal here yet it is still wasted and one day that’s going to become impossible – there just won’t be enough water to go around. I agree that something that precious shouldn’t be wasted. Besides, isn’t rainwater better for plants than something filtered and treated with chemicals?
Rain water is definitely a lot better and I definitely prefer to use it if I can. It’s too bad that even somewhere like Australia that is having to limit water has problems with water being wasted. You’d think they would try harder when it’s more of an obvious problem like that…
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