I was watering the grass in the front yard about 4 o’clock yesterday and noticed that the chickadees were in the maple. The maple is in the very middle of the front yard and as I was watering just one side, the spray from the oscillating sprinkler just reached the lower branches. The birds would wait for the spray to come and then hop down lower, get a bit of water and then jump back up. There were 6 to 12 birds in all. They all got a bath and then went elsewhere to preen. Even though it was cool, rain has been scarce so I suppose they taking the opportunity.
I have seen them do this before. I suspect that I do not always see them as each variety of bird gets in and gets out in a fairly short period of time.