I've been watching the new birdbath avidly, wondering how long it would take the local wildlife to adopt it as an alternative water source. It turns out birds are really smart. They seem to know this little bowl of water doesn't have a natural source and has to be refilled every couple of days. They're only using it on the hottest days. I don't mind. At least they have another option when it's really hot, which it has been all year here.

My clothesline is on the kookaburra's regular rounds of his territory, but this is only the second time I've seen him at the birdbath. If you look closely, you'll see he's a blue-wing kookaburra, not a laughing kookaburra. The blue-wings don't laugh: they cackle.