I'm planning on putting a 3000 ft long 3/8" diameter cable through the woods on my property. It's going to be about 10 feet above the ground. I'm going to have a special trolley, kind of like an upside down bicycle, that rides the cable and and I can sit on and go from one side of the property to the other in comfort. Anyways my only concern is that the cable might be a hazard for birds. We try to keep the property kind of like a nature preserve. So I don't want to be injuring birds all the time. Do you think it would be hazardous for them or would they figure out where it is and avoid it?
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Safe for birds or not? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ms79
- Start date
Torchepot
Well-known member
Not sure how much of a problem it would cause - after all the world is swarming with power lines of various sizes and heights. I’ve heard of birds being killed by apparently flying into power lines in fog or darkness but I suspect these are much higher from the ground. In woodland birds are used to encountering thin horizontal obstacles.
I put up a wire fence years ago and a tawny owl flew into it - I’ve read that they fly in near darkness from a “memory map” of their territory.
My feeling is that a 3000 foot cable would have so much sag in it that only the very middle bit would be useable by the device you describe, unless it was a zip line - which of course only operates in one direction.
I put up a wire fence years ago and a tawny owl flew into it - I’ve read that they fly in near darkness from a “memory map” of their territory.
My feeling is that a 3000 foot cable would have so much sag in it that only the very middle bit would be useable by the device you describe, unless it was a zip line - which of course only operates in one direction.
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
I'd doubt it'll be a problem - if it is thick enough to support your weight safely, it'll be thick enough for birds to see. It is in a woodland, so there won't be any birds not adapted to seeing obstacles like tree branches. Cables like this can be a hazard to birds like swans - but they won't be flying there anyway.
It's going to be supported every 100ft or so by brackets strapped to the side of trees.
I think if I actually build this I might run a brightly colored rope parallel with the cable. It could even be attached to the underside of the cable with some strong tape.
Torchepot
Well-known member
Interesting idea, is this your own design or something that is already in operation somewhere?
PYRTLE
Old Berkshire Boy
They do something very similar around hard rock hillsides where eye bolts are driven (slight raise from horizontal)into a almost vertical face then a multi stranded "wire" threaded through. The climbers are then clipped by a safety harness to the wire and then scale around as the route takes them, hugging the hillside surface. It is a form of traverse. I think one was proposed up in Lakeside but refused the necessary positions ( about 15 years or so ago ).
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