On Tue, 25 Jun 2002, Dave King wrote: >One thing to consider is that the bird weighs in at about 20 grams (I think). >Any trap doors "slamming shut" that make contact might harm the bird. >And anything that touches the wings could really do a number on it. Then there >is the problem of the birds metabolism, trapping it for any extend amount >of time >could kill it so you need to be able to notify when its sprung. If it were >a bigger >bird you could just run a used tazer into the feeder.....;-] > >We have a few Hummer feeders here but it took a year before they would do >more than zip on by. They are a blast to watch though when they feed. The >feeder >is about 3 feet from my desk outside the window. Makes it easy to watch. > >Dave Hehe. I used to live in a building that had some sort of parasite flowers on a vine outside. The birds would come and feed from the flowers. In the beginning I did not realise they were hummingbirds, they are comparable in size to small bees. However there are no *blue* bees. Upon looking closer ... I think that 20 grams is a little on the bomber side. Those birds we have here are really small. Less than 5 cm length/wingspan. 5 grams is 'heavy' I think. Average weight is 2-4 grams I think. This is a much as one or two small denomination brass coins here (about US penny size) ;-). I aggree about the wings not being touched. The birds are zippy fliers and they can fly backwards as fast as forwards. No room to turn with the beak inside a flower I guess ... Peter >At 01:15 PM 25/06/02 -0500, you wrote: >>100% on-target. Thanks! >>From: "Peter L. Peres" >> >> > A normal trap has a spring or some other mechanical energy storage device >> > and the trigger releases this. In practice you could have an elastic >> > trying to close the door and a 3V motor with a half-cup shaped paddle >> > soldered onto the axle hold the door back (by a protruding piano wire or >> > such). >> > >> > Peter >> > > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList >mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads