The Thermodynamic Drinking Bird | A Personal Heat Engine in a Handy Duck Shape

I've always wanted one of these every since seeing one in my father's office as a kid. I have 2 now, 1 purchased by me, 1 purchased for my by a coworker. The first bird worked great right out of the box for several weeks. I had it going entire weeks with no breaks and even over the weekends by carefully covering up the water to minimize evaporation. Eventually it stopped working and I could not understand why. Enter drinking bird number 2. This one was purchased for my by a coworker as a replacement for my failed bird and upon arrival I could not get it to work. After comparing this bird with the previous I found 2 adjustments were necessary to get the new bird and the previous bird functioning correctly.1) As stated in the instructions (but worded poorly) the glass itself slides up and down in the metal peice holding it. This allows you to adjusted the height of the bird and it's reach when "drinking"2) The metal bracket itself my need to be bent inwards or outwards to keep the bird from falling backwards. Bending this allows you to adjust the angle at which the "rests" and keeps the weight forward to prevent the bird from gaining too much momentum and falling backwards.With these adjustments both are still going strong. They are always a delightful distraction from work and my coworks love to mess with them.

I bought this because I remember being mesmerized by the one my grandmother had when I was a little girl. It arrived right before a visit from my grandchildren on Labor Day, and they gathered around it and watched for a long time. There were lots of questions about how it works, and we even did a little science experiment to see if the number of second between dips was consistent. This bird certainly performs as intended. I keep water in the cup continuously, and the bird has not stopped! It is easy to assemble. I love how a simple item such as this spans the generations

I had one of these 50 years ago that got broken, this one works just as good. Did have a little problem getting it to work to begin with; had to hold in my hand tilt up and down till l I got all the liquid in the head. After doing that it worked fine.Price was good and shipping was quick.

These birds are great. As you can see in the "Rate Features," they are of optimum thickness and warmth(?!?), and are giftable to boot! As the the description says, they are thermodynamic (although they're not exactly aerodynamic.) And you get two! They can drink each other under the table, or keep one as a spare, as you would never want to be without one should the unthinkable happen.

Clever and amusing little toy

This worked well right out of the box, brought back a lot of childhood memories as I remember these as a kid. As it states on the box the liquid inside stains and kids want to touch the bird. Bought for older mom who could watch it drink for days. Nice novelty gift that came as expected.

This guy took a while to get working, but once up and running, he's going strong in my kitchen window!i had one of these back in the 50's and it kept me fascinated. My husband gave me a red one about 20 yearsago and it has gotten tired; it, too, sits in my kitchen window keeping Big Blue company. They're so muchfun to watch; even birds come up to the window to see them. I love these guys!

Sadly, many store don't carry this classic item because it's supposed to have mercury in it. Coming from an age where we played with mercury with our bare fingers (and also rode bikes without helmets or knee pads) and yet still being here, this bothers me not at all. What bothers me is that I had to order this...but my order arrived quickly, and my bird is just as fun now as it was *mumbles* decades ago!I'm going to buy another couple for my nephews as gifts. Hopefully they'll survive....