Date: 6/13/26 11:38 am From: Terry Miller <000009a0b0d4f681-dmarc-request...> Subject: Bubbler Data near Smithville Lake and Construction Suggestions....
Greetings fellow birders,
I am making this post as I believe many of you, after reading it, will be
interested in setting up your own bubbler?
Last Spring (2025), my good friend and colleague Mike Niles wanted to put
up a solar bubbler along a tree line in the field behind my house. I
readily agreed and my property borders Smithville Lake in Clinton Co., MO.
Being solar, it was only having water flow for 3-5 hours a day if it wasn’t
overly cloudy. We have it operating from early Spring until October but
occasionally it was not operating for various reasons. We set a game
camera up to take short 30 second videos. And we have hundreds of videos!
To date we have videos of 41 species of birds…and a few squirrels and
raccoons. I will list them after comments by Mike Niles on some aspects of
our bubbler set-up:
Bubbler/Bath is an old utility sink (donated and I built a 2 x 4 frame to
hold it up) with a metal wire “shelf” over the opening. Then added a
bathing dish, a solar pump (keep under 120 gph, only want a trickle of
water – DEPENDS on how high you are pumping the water up) and rocks. The
gurgling occurs especially as the water overflows the bathing dish/pan into
the sink below. I like the “utility sink” because it has a plug for EASY
water changing every 2-3 weeks! (If you have access to electricity, a
non-solar pump would be great because the solar pump is only running about
3 – 4 hours per day)
I have uploaded 10 videos to Flickr and, if you just want to look at a 3-4,
I would suggest the ones titled:
I hope you enjoyed this post and are encouraged to set up your own bubbler!
*The List of 41 Species alphabetically*:
1. American Goldfinch
2. American Robin
3. Baltimore Oriole
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Blue Grosbeak
6. Bluejay
7. Brown-headed Cowbird
8. Brown Thrasher
9. Canada Warbler
10. Cedar Waxwing
11. Chipping Sparrow
12. Dark-eyed Junco
13. Eastern Bluebird
14. Eastern Phoebe
15. Eastern Screech Owl
16. Eastern Towhee
17. European Starling
18. Gray Catbird
19. Harris’s Sparrow
20. House Finch
21. House Sparrow
22. Indigo Bunting
23. Nashville Warbler
24. Northern Cardinal
25. Northern Flicker
26. Orange-crowned Warbler
27. Palm Warbler
28. Purple Finch
29. Red-winged Blackbird
30. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
31. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
32. Song Sparrow
33. Summer Tanager
34. Swainson’s Thrush
35. Tufted Titmouse
36. Red-eyed Vireo
37. White-crowned Sparrow
38. White-throated Sparrow
39. Wilson’s Warbler
40. Northern Yellow Warbler
41. Yellow-rumped Warbler
Terry L. Miller
Plattsburg, MO
<millert832...>
www.millerstaxidermy.net
Follow me on Instagram: terryl.miller
"Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his
eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have
been made." Romans 1:20
"The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of
wonder." G.K. Chesterton
------------------------------------------------------------
The Missouri Birding Society's Wild Bird Discussion Forum
