Bird Bath Bowl Help

May 23, 2024 6:03 PM

I am hunting for a bird bath bowl or a bowl that can be used as a bird bath. I'm hoping to find something larger than 24 inches in diameter - would be thrilled to find something 36 inches diameter! It needs to be shallow enough for the birds to like it...

Let's pretend that cost is no object. I found some various round planters, but I think they are too deep. Our current bird bath, which is very popular, is 3 inches deep in the middle, and I don't think we want anything deeper than that.

When I try to search for 36" diameter bird bath bowls I end up with 36" tall bird baths and a feeling like despair.

posted by hilaryjade to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

You can sometimes find earthenware drip trays for pots at that size at local garden centers. I don't know why you want over 24" diameter, but I have a nice glazed drip tray around 22" diameter and about 1" deep that gets plenty of visits from birds and butterflies (put some gravel in it that pokes above the water line to help beneficial pollinators). The one I have cost around $15 but that will depend on your local market.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:17 PM on May 23 [6 favorites]

Our house has a discarded satellite dish that we've repurposed as a bird bath. It's pretty popular.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on May 23 [1 favorite]

If a plain satellite dish looks too much like junk for your house's aesthetic, you could glue a mosaic of broken tile bits onto it and then finish up with a dark grout (light-coloured grout would make the inevitable algae growth visibly obvious).
posted by flabdablet at 12:32 AM on May 24

Perhaps a large steel water bowl like this? You can put rocks in it to make it as shallow as you like.
posted by guessthis at 3:35 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

this tempted me the other day. Remember that many bowls can work, if it's too deep you can add decorative river stone. Happy bird building!
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:11 AM on May 24

Sorry the diameter is a little small. But many bowls that are just pretty can work.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:25 AM on May 24

I did this with a (plastic, so I could periodically bleach it) plant pot saucer, the biggest the garden center had which was probably 20ish inches. I used a bit of concrete to make a easy-to-remove inner-ring landscape of marbles and river rock, so bees and little birds had a foothold.

And then I put that on top of a planter pot so that it sat in the rim, filled it with water, and ran a pump up from inside the planter so there was a) moving water to prevent mosquitoes (also use mosquito dunks) and reduce algae b) splashing audiovisual to attract more birds c) a little spatter for hummingbirds to bathe in.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:24 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

I searched extra wide large bird bath and extra wide large glass dish; didn't find anything very large. But you have a good budget, so maybe call some potters who could make one for you. For outdoor use, it should not be too thin, which is easier to make.
posted by theora55 at 12:25 PM on May 24