Hello Laurie& Leanne,
In your letter you ask > I wonder what is the heaviest bird that can perch
on an average TV aerial without
> causing any structural damage
I may be able to throw some light on this question of structural strength of
TV aerials as a result of personal observation. Whilst waiting to collect my
son at the Sydney suburban railway station of Killara ,I was watching the
vertical grid aerial mounted on a guyed metal pole on the roof of a
three-storied block of home units near the station . As I watched ,and it
was this that attracted my attention, a single Sulphurcrested Cockatoo
swooped down and settled on one of the many horizontal rods of the aerial.
Now this was not an unusual sight which I am sure most or, indeed all of us,
have seen. However, it was shortly joined by a second screeching cockie.
There was apparently some sort of invitation because the two birds were
joined by a further eleven cockies, all perched on individual rods.This
presented quite an interesting spectacle which caught the attention of all
those commuters waiting on the train's arrival as the perched birds formed
an almost geometric pattern of thirteen Sulphurcrested Cockatoos. This was a
fair test of the strength of the aerial and furthermore,proof of the
strength of such a structure as at this point a fourteenth cockie landed and
the whole array of aerial, and birds collapsed onto the roof of the building
in a chaos of screeching cockies and a tangle of metal .Whilst this does not
answer your question, it is very specific as regard to regards
vertical -grid TV aerials and Sulphurcrested Cockatoos .If you are
contemplating purchase of an aerial of this type you might insist on one
rated for fourteen cockatoos minimum.
Reg
St.Ives. NSW.
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