Our wildlife pool

I shared this video of a Cooper’s Hawk enjoying the pool we set up for our wildlife on Bluesky and people wanted to know more about the setup.

https://neil-clarke.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cooper-1.mp4

We started doing this a couple of years ago. We live near a wildlife refuge and have lots of little and big friends dropping by. In addition to the variety of birds, we see a lot of chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, opossums, and even the occasional bear and bobcat. It’s mostly for the smaller animals that aren’t eating one another. The Cooper’s Hawk was the first bird of prey we’ve seen in the pool, but there are many eagles, falcons, owls, and hawks in the area.

Our old fountain died and the new one attracted this hawk.

It has to be cleared out every few days, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to document how simple this setup is.

I started by cleaning out the algae with a large brush. I’ve found it easiest to leave some water and one of the bigger rocks in place for the first pass. Only takes a few minutes of brushing to clear it off the plastic kiddie pool that is the heart of this setup. I also use the brush on the rocks. After dumping the water, I hose everything down.

The rocks are used to create a variety of depths in the pool so the smaller animals can enjoy it and have something to help them climb out if they fall in. We also have a tiny picnic table that we leave fruit or nuts on for snacktime. A smaller plastic container is there for casual drinking. We’ve spotted some of the little birds (sparrows, junkos, etc.) using it for a bath.

We also have a CEYOMUR Solar Trail Camera set up on the steps (facing the pool and picnic table) and an AISITIN solar powered water fountain. The one pictured at the top is the new one. The previous one (on the bottom) lasted two years before dying and then mysteriously started working again today when I went to toss it out. The fountains are under $20 and have survived rough play from the raccoons.

Since the second fountain started working again, I added more rocks and put it back. I like trapping the fountains to keep them from shooting water out of the pool. Learned that one the hard way.

And finally, a few snacks added to the picnic table and we’re all set for the next few days.