Sparrows visiting the empty bird bath platform

I feel so sad that I had to remove the bird bath bowl from the platform to avoid contributing to the spread of salmonella among songbirds. The salmonella mostly affects pine siskins and lesser goldfinches. But it has been advised by bird scientists in the Bay Area to take the precaution of removing bird feeders and bird baths to avoid any potential spread of salmonella to all birds.

Now that I removed and thoroughly cleaned and stored the bath bowl, birds are still visiting the platform.

I don't know if they are disappointed that the bath is gone, but they still visit and sit there for a while.

Birds such as the white-crowned sparrow, above, aren't here year round. They tend to visit for the winter, then migrate back to their breeding grounds in the tundra.

It would have been great to provide them a bath for the rest of their stay this season, but now they just have to be satisfied with an observation platform.

The golden-crowned sparrows also check the empty platform then fly away.

They too will soon return to their nesting grounds in the subarctic.

When they do we will miss their beautiful songs.