Bird Bath

When I moved here, starting my 20th year, I would sometimes see house finches walking around in circles. Looking at them more closely they either had an eye that was infected or was blowing up and they were blind. Reading up, it's a disease that they get primarily from a bad water source. A day or two later I would find the house finch dead on the ground with an eyeball missing that had exploded. I bought two bird baths and filled them with clean water brought in from town. My well water is too salty. Normally I change them every few days because if one finch gets the disease and poops in the bird bath I'm fearful others may get it. In the winter, if the bath freezes and turns to ice they require changing much more often. The birds will come to the bath in the morning and being frozen they walk around on the ice trying to find water to drink. They poop all over the ice and when it melts it becomes part of the water source. This picture is an example.

So, You'd think there wouldn't be many stories to tell about a bird bath and you're right but in twenty years I have three. 1. One day a hawk came in the tree not far away and a house finch walked into the water almost fully submerged, apparently trying to hide. 2. Finches have a reputation for being mean at times. One day I saw a male (red chest) house finch bend over to take a drink and the male house finch next to it drove it's beak through the back of it's head and the pierced bird fell dead into the water. 3. Just a couple days ago for the first time ever I saw a male sharp-shinned hawk leaning over drinking out of the bath. Two house finches landed next to it and also drank out of the water. The finches didn't seem to notice the hawk and the hawk didn't seem to care about them. So strange. Time to change out the water.