Round Three for the Mister Station

My purchase of a purpose-built dripper kit a couple of years ago included as a side benefit a mister nozzle. I couldn’t see the point of not rigging up a mister that first summer and gave it a try. The first year out I affixed the nozzle to the top of a shepherd’s hook near a tree branch, thus giving prospective bathing birds a place to perch. This wasn’t a great idea as the increasingly saturated leaf pack—in the shade—invited damage to the plant. My next brainstorm was to buy some fake foliage from a local craft store and create my own perch. I know birds like to rub themselves against wet leaves as a bathing behavior. Now my shepherd’s hook “shower station” allows birds their choice of a perch-and-rub, or a flyby through the mist, or even a perch-and-shower. Unfortunately, I have never gotten a single photograph of a bird using the mister in spite of visual evidence that at least some species (Chickadees most notably) appear to use the thing. The mister is now up and operational again and I expect to try photographing again this summer once the weather is generally hotter. We shall see if this effort yields entertaining pictures.