James, K8JHR, e-mailed me yesterday:
A pair of robins built their nests on top of my new remote coax switch. It is located just a few feet outside the shack under the wood deck behind my house.
Since the robin is the state bird of Michigan, the state in which we both reside, I’m hoping he’ll wait until the chicks have left the nest before he removes it.
On a similar note, I notice that the birds that frequent my backyard have started using my 10m loop antenna and the various coax lines running here and there around the yard, as perches. This is really rather strange. The antennas have been up for years, and only this year have I noticed them doing this. Any thoughts?
JHR says
No worries about my taking it down before the babies fly… Susan and I love to watch the babies grow and then take off – and I hope to get photos of the babies in the nest, this is the third year in a row we have had sufficient access to get a camera up close. Hopefully I can have a follow up photo of the babies in due course.
Happy days. – K8JHR –
Ethan says
I have a two element collinear 1/2 wave 2 meter J-pole over my shack (build detailed at http://kb8ojh.net/projects/jpole/) with a phasing loop between the two elements that stands out horizontally. Both last year and this year, a hummingbird has made that phasing loop its regular perch. Last year I would estimate that it was up there 50% or more of the daylight hours — this year it’s not that much, but it’s still not an uncommon sight.
Our working theory is that the view is good, and the antenna is well separated from surrounding cover where predators might hide. We really don’t know.