How To Easily Level A Birdbath In Your Garden

Adding a birdbath to your garden is one way to attract more birds, which in turn attract your attention with their avian antics. One factor that's easy to overlook, however, is finding a flat, level spot for a birdbath. If you've set your birdbath up in what seems to be the ideal location, only to notice the structure looks a little askew, it's probably not set on level ground. When it's not level, the water in it won't be parallel with the ground, either, which means it's likely deeper on one side than the other. 

Pedestal birdbaths are particularly prone to this problem, perhaps due to their typically narrow base and because it's hard not to see the water in the basin when walking past the bath. Ensuring that the basin is level is one way to keep a birdbath from losing water. If you're set on keeping that birdbath in its current location, a little groundwork will get it level once again. 

For starters, place a level across the top of your birdbath to determine how far away from level it is. Lifting the level slightly on one side or another until the bubble is centered in the display window shows where level is. Check if your birdbath basin is separate from the pedestal; in some cases, it just may be the basin that needs a little shift to make it level. If so, make sure it still looks perpendicular. If the entire bath isn't level, empty the water.

It's probably time to clean your birdbath if it's been a few days since you cleaned it, so now's your chance to do that as well. Move the birdbath aside so you can create a level area for it. If it's heavy, enlist the help of a friend to avoid injury. 

Scrape away an inch or two of the garden soil or mulch in the area using the tip of a flat shovel; if the ground is hard, you may need to break it up first with a spade or a pointed shovel. Place some matching flat bricks, a paver, or a stepping stone in the cleared space. In some cases, you might need just one item, as long as it's wider than the base of the birdbath pedestal. 

Check the paver for levelness, then add or remove a little more dirt from the area under it as needed until the bubble in the level is centered when checked from multiple directions. Set the birdbath atop the paver, then check it with the level, adjusting as needed. If desired, cover the exposed parts of the paver with the scooped-out dirt or mulch to hide it. Fill the birdbath with water and get ready for flocks of birds in your yard.