# Minor Query on Drinking Birds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568 "2002-09-08T21:12:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568/1 "2002-09-08T21:12:22Z")

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The little dipping plastic science kinds, not the breathing feathery twitchy little things.

Does altitude effect how they dip at all? I would assume it would some. I live rather high on the side of a mountain in Salt Lake City, and my drinking birds do not care to function. Instead, they turn upside down.

I have tried to fix this by moving upwards the metal part where the neck connects to the legs, to make it harder to tip over, but then it simply doesn’t drink or bob. The liquid just bubbles indefinitely.

I figure my only course of action is to do the “paint bottom part black, shine a heat lamp on it,” but that’s terribly annoying. Is it malfunctioning due to the altitude, or just being mean to me?

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**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568/2 "2002-09-09T00:00:21Z")

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Have you seen [The Happy Drinking Bird page](http://www.backstreet.demon.co.uk/oddstuff/drinkingbirds/drinkingbirds.htm), **Toaster**?

> [@](#):
>
> When the bird dips into the water, it should not go further than the main glass tube being horizontal (i.e. tube must not be lower at the head end), otherwise the liquid can get “stuck” in the head bulb and prevent it from returning. If it does go further than horizontal…

😃

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568/3 "2002-09-09T00:09:44Z")

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I thought this was going to be a joke about parrots and blenders.  
Dang! ☹  
Peace,  
mangeorge

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**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568/4 "2002-09-09T00:23:22Z")

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That is a very good page, thank you. My Googling turned up nothing helpful (I suppose I was using bad key words), and [HowStuffWorks.com](http://HowStuffWorks.com) didn’t really help much.

Hopefully Happy Drinking Bird can work now; he thanks you profoundly.

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**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-query-on-drinking-birds/127568/5 "2002-09-09T01:39:49Z")

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Have you heard about rhesus pieces, **mangeorge**?🙂