Nature Done Wright

In my last birding column for The Record, I wrote about birds' need for water in winter — to drink and to bathe.

When the local outdoor water supply freezes up, a friend of mine adds an especially designed birdbath heating element to a big bowl, and he is in business.

The trouble is that these things cost from $50 to $60. Dan and Lyn Boyle have a nifty solution: For the past four years, they have put out water in a heated dog bowl.

Lyn writes: "Because the bowl is deep we don't fill it to the top. We place a large rock to the side to make room for bathing (it needs adjusting in the attached photo).