The birdbath I keep out year round attracts just about everything. It has shallow parts that allow small birds to wash and drink and deeper parts for large birds. Crows, Jays, and Robins use it as much as all of the sparrows and finches. During spring and summer, it attracts birds that aren t as easy to see like warblers and vireos, small, green birds that glean shrubs and trees for insects. It s easier to attract seed-eating birds because you can just put out seed.
Water brings out many of the birds that one can t lure to a feeder.
During the late fall through early spring, I ll can have as many as 150-200 birds of fifteen or more species in the yard at any one time. These serve as a bird feeder in themselves. Just last week a Cooper s Hawk swooped through and took a sparrow or finch and spent an hour eating it under one of our apple trees. Cooper s Hawks are about crow-sized with long narrow tails and short, rounded wings that make them agile enough to sprint around, through and over brush quickly in their search for birds and some rodents. The smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk is so similar it is extremely hard to tell apart, even by size because some Sharpies are larger and some Cooper s smaller.