cold swim for the pigeon..

[actionfinch]

Got home from work this morning, and whilst having a cuppa i admired the birds as they came to feed...strangely enough the small birds came first then the pigeons , jay and couple of magpies.. ( its normally them who get down first), any way a pigeon popped himself on the ground near my pond
( im sure it was a stock dove ..black eyes and no yellow beak or neck markins) he showed alot of intrest in it , and so i did of it. next minute he jumped of the ledge and landed on the lily leaves.. i saw him sinking a little then he hoped onto another leaf , sinking slightly again.. it was almost comical really , any way he got to dry land and then whet back in, this time on a large root that was not submerged.. all he wanted was a drink . I thought to myself theres a bird bath 2 feet away
strange what these birds get upto.I should put up neon signs for them...
'Bar open 24hrs....' or something.

[Kayleigh]

I had wood-pigeons do the same thing and land in the middle of the pond only to spread its wings and scramble to the bank all soggy..
Also a young starling saw the pond and ran like a kid running to the sea, it ran straight into the water..
They are comical to watch lucky the pond is shallow all round the edge.

[actionfinch]

it reminds me a the first and only blackcap i saw , during the summer , he was light enough to have a bath in it . that was before i got a bird bath...but wood pigeons are fun to watch.

[RobinP]

I've just had a Blackbird do exactly the same thing, balance on the water plants while having a vigorous bath, with a full bird bath feet away. Maybe they just feel safer in a pond?

Robin