Last spring, while suffering a bout of temporary insanity, I dug a hole in our backyard.

Not just any hole. An 18-square-foot hole that I confidently explained to Ingrid was going to become a bird pond. I explained that the bird seed, mealworms, suet and sugar water we already provide weren’t enough. Our birds needed a water feature.

Armed with a shovel, a pond liner, some rocks, a length of clear plastic tubing and just enough knowledge to be dangerous, I set out to create a tiny backyard oasis.

Remarkably, it worked.

So, for anyone else who has looked at a perfectly good patch of lawn and thought, “You know what would improve that? A great big hole…” — here is my highly scientific, meticulously engineered, absolutely-not-made-up-as-I-went-along guide to:

HOW TO BUILD A BACKYARD BIRD POND

And stick around for the bird montage at the end — because, against all odds, the birds actually use it.