I will always have birdbaths. And I love the sound of a fountian, trickling or bubbling; but we had one for quite some time and we discovered the down side of them. A great lot of upkeep. The pumps get clogged, the water turns brown or green & full of algae & in the heat of summer it's a real bear to go out & clean the whole thing out every 5 days. And then too there were the BUFO toads down where we lived & they just love the sound of running water & we have a terrier so that means the fountain has to go or the dog has to go --- guess which went? For those who don't know; the poison from a Bufo toad can kill a dog before you can get it to the vet. And there was also the problem of if you put chemicals in the water to keep the algae away then the splish splash of the water falling on plants around the fountain kills the plants. And I'm not comfortable with the birds drinking those same chemicals. So, for me, I'll stick with the birdbaths & leave the fountains & ponds to others.

I've wanted a water garden/feature for years and still don't have one ... the swimming pool doesn't count in my opinion! I have three bird baths in the yard. I can't imagine not having fresh water for my feathered friends, but it sure would be nice to have a fountain or small pond with a waterfall ... except I'd worry about the poisonous toads as well as snakes! There are a lot of different types of Bufo Toads and I sure wish the poisonous one had never been released in Florida, but then we have many non native invasive critters here that have run amok like Pythons, Cuban Tree Frogs, Monitor Lizards .... Yikes!

Bufo marinus (Giant Toad) the poisonous one:
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extensi...

Bufo terrestris (Southern Toad) is non poisonous:
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extensi... is not:

Thanks Lin for including the links so people can learn the difference. I did not think to do that. Nor to point out that there are different Bufo toads.

If you have a screened cage around your pool then you could have a fountain inside that where the Bufo marinus couldn't get to it. But it isn't quite the same as having it in the garden.

Yeah ... but the cat spends 90% of her time in the screened pool area ... I'm always rescuing little Anole lizards from her, I'm afraid I'd have to do the same with frogs/toads.

Life is filled with compromises. WHY?

Why, indeed!