Concrete Antique Bird Bath Ornate Pedestal 23 Inch
- Regular price
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$199.99 - Regular price
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- Sale price
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$199.99
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ANTIQUE BIRD BATH
Carved All the Way Down
The scroll motif runs around the basin rim, continues down the pedestal, and wraps the base. Not one plain surface anywhere.
Reproductions usually fail in the same place. The carving goes on the most visible band and the column is left plain, and the eye looks for that plain stretch and finds it. This one gives it nowhere to land.
The finish is already mottled, pale on the raised carving and dark in the recesses, the way limestone looks after years of rain running off the same edges. The rest is up to your garden. The year moss appears on the shaded side is the year it stops looking new.
What Makes This Bird Bath Different
- Ornament on every surface, not just the rim. A decorated basin on a plain column reads as decoration applied to a plain object. Carrying the scrollwork down the pedestal and around the base removes the undecorated stretch that gives most reproductions away, and it is why this piece can hold a lawn on its own.
- A 17.7 inch basin gives a bird room to hesitate. They land on the rim, settle, look around, and only then step in. A generous edge leaves room for that. Narrow bowls force a choice between standing and drinking and many birds simply move on.
- Fill to two inches, not to the brim. At that depth chickadees stand and sip, robins get their whole body in, and bluebirds come back three days running. Filled to the top it becomes a drinking stop.
- Thirty six pounds of sealed concrete. It holds position through a season of weather without staking and does not move when a dog brushes past.
Twenty three inches puts the basin at a height most species treat as safe, high enough to spot a cat and low enough for smaller birds to reach. Leave two or three feet of open ground so nothing gets close unseen, and keep a shrub within a short flight for cover. A lawn, a path junction or the centre of a bed all suit it, since a symmetrical piece reads from every angle.
Quick Specifications
| Design | Classic pedestal with full scrollwork |
|---|---|
| Material | Concrete |
| Finish | Weathered antique stone, sealed |
| Height | 23 in. |
| Basin diameter | 17.7 in. |
| Water depth | 2 in. recommended |
| Weight | 35.9 lb. |
| Assembly | Two piece, no tools required |
| Use | Outdoor year round |
Setup, Care, and Warranty
Setup and placement
Two pieces, no tools. The basin sits onto the pedestal under its own weight.
Set it on level solid ground so the water sits even across the bowl and the piece stands true for years.
Filling it
Two inches is the number. Birds wade rather than swim, so shallow water is what gets them in. It also stays cleaner and warms faster in spring.
Keeping the carving crisp
A soft brush every couple of weeks keeps the scrollwork sharp and the recesses clear. Plain water is all it takes. Skip liquid cleaners, since the basin holds drinking water.
Winter
Drain the basin before the first hard frost and leave it empty or turned over. Sealed concrete comes through freeze and thaw well when dry, winter after winter.
3 year warranty
This product includes a 3 year warranty against cracking. Coverage, claim requirements and required documents are subject to the warranty policy that applies at the time of purchase. Keep your order confirmation and contact customer support with your order details if service is needed.
Questions Before You Choose
Is it actually antique?
New concrete finished to look weathered. You get the presence of a piece that has been in place for decades, and it keeps aging naturally from there.
How does it compare to a plain pedestal bath?
Same job, different presence. A plain pedestal sits quietly in a garden. This one anchors it, which is what you want at a path junction or on a lawn.
Will birds actually use it?
The 17.7 inch basin with a wide rim gives them somewhere to land and assess from. Fill to two inches, keep the approach open, and have cover within a short flight.
What does it look like up close?
Mottled rather than flat, with the raised carving catching light and the recesses staying dark. It holds up to close inspection, which is where most cast pieces give themselves away.
Every garden has food in it somewhere. Most have no water at all.
None of this is particular to our bird baths. It is true of any backyard, and it is the reason a basin of clean water changes who visits your garden.
Water is used year round
Birds drink and bathe in every season, including the weeks when puddles and shallow ponds are frozen over.
Two inches, no more
Songbirds bathe standing up. A basin deeper than roughly two inches at the centre gets looked at and left alone.
Ten feet from cover
A wet bird is a slow bird. Put the bath near a shrub or a low branch and it gets used; strand it in open lawn and it does not.
Tall enough to be safe. Shallow enough to be used.
Height is not decoration. A pedestal lifts the basin above a cat's easy reach, and puts it at eye level from a kitchen window instead of lost in the planting. The basin slopes as well. It stays shallow at the rim and drops a little toward the centre, so a small bird can stand at the edge and a larger one can stand in the middle.
Fill it to about two inches. That is shallow on purpose, and it is also why it empties and refills in seconds. Exact height and basin width for this piece are in the specifications further down.
Still water, or moving water.
Still
Out of the box it is a basin of standing water, which is all most birds ask for. Fill it, change it every few days, done. No cord, no pump, nothing to fail.
Moving
Add a solar fountain kit and the surface breaks. Moving water carries further than a still basin and keeps mosquitoes from settling. It sits in the basin, so there is no drilling and no wiring.
Three habits, and it outlives the garden bed.
A bird bath does not need much. Almost every one that fails does so for one of two reasons. Either water was left in it through a freeze, or a detergent stripped the surface. Avoid both and the rest is rinsing.
Rinse and refill every few days in warm weather. A tip and a hose is enough.
Scrub with a stiff brush and diluted white vinegar when algae shows. No detergent and no bleach, since both leave residue birds will drink.
Empty it before the first hard frost, or keep it moving with a de-icer. Water left to freeze is the one thing the warranty can't undo.