And the first water feature visitor is.....

a stupid juvenile, of course! In this case, a CHSP (it's parent nearby was not willing to enter).Anyone who's tried this stuff already recognizes just how specific the requirements are in order to get birds to feel comfortable enough to leave the safety of the foliage and enter the water. It seems to me that birds really want to be able to see a significant distance from the water, presumably to guarantee they'll see an approaching predator with time to spare.

In this case, I had built up a bit of a 'wall' surrounding the top, shallow, puddle, so I removed it and flattened out the entire setup. But I still have a propane tank just 4-5 feet from the puddle and I suspect strongly it's preventing the majority of candidate adult birds (so far, BCCH, EAPH, CHSP) which are watching down from above the pool but refusing to enter it.

Anyway, good thing I am starting so early. Gotta be ready once the OSFLs, YBFLs, ALFLs, and GWWAs start to arrive around Aug 20...

(BTW, where the hell are all you guys?!?!? Let's see some posts, even if you have no new birds)