A few free hours in the afternoon, a nice bird blind, a yard full of Painted Buntings, and a drippy hose…all the perfect ingredients for some fun bird photography!  I took a small birdbath and placed the hose to drip into it.  I positioned it near the Painted Buntings’ favorite bush, right in the middle of their flyway to the feeder.  I climbed into my blind and laughed as the first exploratory birds flew out, saw the bath, and jumped back under cover.  I had a feeling it would take a little while for them to get used to it.  But before long, the first brave greenie landed…and found that he liked it!

You can see the water droplets as the greenie tested the waters.  Apparently he liked it!  He decided it was time for a bath.

After a bird takes a bath, he always does a wing flap.  In this case, it was combined with a jump.  Silly looking bird!

Before long, our greenie had company.  You can’t keep a good bird bath a secret!

Things got especially interesting when the third and fourth birds decided to join in the fun.  Apparently the bath wasn’t big enough for everybody!

A male bunting showed up for just a second, but he immediately flew away.  I took a mental note to set this up more permanently so that the birds are used to it when I go out to photograph.  Plus, once they get used to the drip, I can set up a more photogenic perch.  But until then, here’s one more fun shot of bath time!

Sadly, my buntings left the yard early this week en route to their breeding grounds.  Every year they leave around April 24.  On Monday the 25th I was down to four greenies.  By Wednesday the 27th, only one greenie was snacking at my feeders.  I didn’t see him/her on Thursday.

The yard is certainly quiet without them! :(