Amusing interference with wind speed

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Chris Richmond

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Jul 29, 2019, 9:50:44 PM7/29/19
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The other day my wife and I were enjoying the Oregon weather on the deck, and happened to catch a
small bird that landed on the Vantage Vue's anemometer.  He spun around 3-4 times and flew off.  Too
bad we didn't catch it on video.

Chris

Andrew Milner

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Jul 29, 2019, 10:18:48 PM7/29/19
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Birds love them!!  If they 'push off' to launch themselves you may even get a gust recorded!!!!

Jeff A. D.

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Jul 30, 2019, 12:01:59 PM7/30/19
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I think generally it would just momentarily affect the wind direction as it's the vane they tend to land on and launch off of, unless they move enough air when they flap their wings to really get the cups spinning.

I did tape a couple of wire brads to the tail of the vane to act like bird spikes, I thought that might help keep droppings from blowing into the rain collector below the anemometer.  I think it helped, but I have seen birds land on the nose of the vane now. :)

Jeff A. D.

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Jul 31, 2019, 11:13:13 AM7/31/19
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Sorry, you did say it was a Vantage Vue, so I guess a bird would be more likely to land on the cups than they would a Vantage Pro station like mine.  My mistake.

Realizing how the Vue is set up gives me a better picture of what happened and makes it even more amusing. :)

Peter_F

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Aug 6, 2019, 6:27:26 AM8/6/19
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I've noticed an Australian Magpie on the wind vane of my Vantage Pro2 a few times.  They seem to enjoy playing with the spinning cups below - stopping them with their beaks and then letting them go again.

Graham Eddy

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Aug 6, 2019, 7:10:21 AM8/6/19
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i get kookaburras. anemometer arm is ideal height for waiting and pouncing on ground prey. they just spin the arm around when they take off
____________
Graham Eddy

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Jeff A. D.

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Aug 6, 2019, 2:40:30 PM8/6/19
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If you plug the rain bucket (or let the birds plug it) and keep it filled with water, you'll have a nice little bird bath which will add to their amusement park experience.  You might even consider filling the fins of the radiation shield with suet.

If you have any old non-working stations you might consider giving them to bird lovers. :)




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