Who put a rock in our birdbath?

SV reX said:

I have a spring- fed pond. It has no access to anything but the upstream creek and the springhead. It had no fish in it.

Then one day, I noticed fish. Several of them. 
 

WTF??

Best we can figure is a bird dropped a pregnant fish into my pond. 

We had a man made accidental retention pond (crushed drain pipe under a highway created it) at the commerce park I helped build. When we finally got it drained, there were orange fish 6 to 8 inches long, maybe 1.5" diameter with bulldog faces in the remaining puddles.

No idea what they were or where they came from, always suspected people ditching goldfish but the faces didn't look right. 

Later in life, in Lincoln California, I was walking to the shop to pick up my miata and found a bluegill on the sidewalk. Dead, dried out, but several miles from any water. I didn't think the birds would carry them that far too eat but they might. 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

...I have also seen raccoons grab a PB&J crust from the trash along with a rock just kinda by habit. ...

Racoons are creatures of habit. Here's what happens when one gets cotton candy:

Another crow vote

I did see crows in the backyard yesterday. 

The rock is still there, too. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Raccoon.   They do it at my house. They take the same kind of decorative river run stones out of the nearby planting beds and put them in things I have to collect rain water I use for plants. Took me a while to figure out how the stones were getting in the pots and buckets. I suspect they do it to raise the water level making it easier to drink when there isn't a lot of water. In the case of the bird bath they may have pushed it into the center part to get more water into the area around the edge where it's easier to get a drink from.  I don't find them when we have a lot of rain, only during kinda dry times when my collection pots have low levels of water from light rain or dew condensing and running off the roof into the pots.

In reply to NOT A TA :

I could see it being a raccoon. I just put a bowl of water on the ground. 

Tom Suddard said:

A while back, Chris and I were driving over an overpass in Jacksonville when a giant fish hit our windshield. No other traffic in front of us, nothing above us, just boom here's a fish.

I've always assumed a bird dropped their dinner on the way home from the river.

Good thing it did not break the windshield.  That insurance claim would have been interesting.

"I need a windshield replacement."

"Road debris?"

"No, random fish hit me."

".... Riiiiight"

During tonight's walk, I came across a raccoon on the path behind our house. 

David S. Wallens said:

The rock is about the size of a smaller rock. 

Americans will measure using anything but the metric system. 

David S. Wallens said:

During tonight's walk, I came across a raccoon on the path behind our house. 

Did you ask him about the rock?  Or coconuts?  Or Monty Python?

Someone moved the rock. 

There was a meme about leaving a watermelon on someone's front porch just to make them crazy.

Think reader somewhere is laughing their ass off right now?

Is the bowl portion of the bird bath anchored and secured to the base? If not, it's likely that a raccoon could/would potentially flip it if attempting to climb up onto it to place a stone. 

Any updates on the rock?

In reply to ShawnG :

It's still there.

So, the birdbath features a glass "tub" on a metal stand. They're not attached to each other. (Yay, gravity.) Honestly, the stand seems a bit light-duty–like, totally fine for a bird but not a small bear.

We realized that the tub didn't have a ledge for the birds, though, so we placed that saucer in the center. It's just the bottom of a flower pot. Bam, instant ledge for birds. 

I have noticed, however, that the saucer has been moved around a bit each morning. I'll center it, and the next morning it might be moved an inch or so.

We have a dog, but she doesn't bother the birdbath. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Grab a cheap trail camera?

In reply to RevRico :

Might have to. Our neighbor has one for watching the birds. We might have to compare notes and launch some kind of a mission here. 

NOT A TA said:

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Raccoon.   They do it at my house. They take the same kind of decorative river run stones out of the nearby planting beds and put them in things I have to collect rain water I use for plants. Took me a while to figure out how the stones were getting in the pots and buckets. I suspect they do it to raise the water level making it easier to drink when there isn't a lot of water. In the case of the bird bath they may have pushed it into the center part to get more water into the area around the edge where it's easier to get a drink from.  I don't find them when we have a lot of rain, only during kinda dry times when my collection pots have low levels of water from light rain or dew condensing and running off the roof into the pots.

That was my initial guess and crows would be the first suspect. 

Aesop had a fable on the subject and this video uses the same principle.

My wife's theory: raccoons standing on their hind legs in order to get a drink. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

They can stand and walk on hind legs balancing better than you'd think. And, they will tilt 5 gal buckets to get a drink. They can smell water much better tan we can.

So 2 pages and no mention of ninjas? Even after Katie's battle today?

Morning update: The rock was back on the ground!

But we have to call outside interference. Since various nighttime critters like to pass through our yard, we take the dog out on a leash early in the morning and late in the evening. Once the yard has been cleared, we'll let her off the leash to do her business.

My wife had her out this morning and, at the last second, the dog decided that she wanted to check out the other side of the birdbath. The birdbath caught the leash and was knocked over, giving the dog a morning bath in the process.

To continue the experiment, of course, I just put the rock back in the birdbath.