Late in the spring I saw a video online that gave me an idea for a new garden feature. I made a simple planter with a center solar fountain, thinking hummingbirds might fly through it and other birds might enjoy a new place to drink:

Right after deploying my new feature, I had to modify the spraying head because on windy days I lost too much water and the fountain sank until it couldn’t see the sunlight. I also caught 13-lined ground squirrels scaling up to the water and added a rescue stick in case they fell in. Those haven’t been my biggest issues though.

The deer love it.

I’d been refilling the water and righting the fountain every morning, up until recently. I finally took the fountain away, as it was getting in the way of deer being able to drink the reservoir down to the bottom.

I can’t complain, however, because it’s fawning time now and I’m attracting gorgeous does and their precocious children to the watering hole:

The solar fountain is going to get a new home. The bird bath we have by our feeders is a little too shallow for it to work properly, so I’ll be buying another so the birds can have their fun away from the deer.