Re: Wind Farms Don't Bother Birds


"Ron" <ron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:mmcde4d1hvclrh5tjto4bl1ifo883603jv@xxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:33:53 GMT, "JC" <dontbother@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


"Ron" <ron@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:j9bbe4lib4km5qru2u90094slfu06iqv7i@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:36:05 -0400, "Joan F \(MI\)"
<jjfahl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Study eases fear about wind farm threat to birds
Wed Oct 1, 2008 8:53am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Wind turbines do not drive birds from surrounding
areas,
British researchers said on Wednesday, in findings which could make
it
easier to build more wind farms.

Conservation groups have raised fears that large birds could get
caught in
the turbines and that the structures could disturb other species.

But scientists found only one of the 23 species studied, the
pheasant, was
affected during their survey of two wind farms in eastern England.

The findings published in the Journal of Applied Ecology could help
government and business efforts to boost the number of wind farms as
a way
to increase production of renewable energy.

"This is the first evidence suggesting that the present and future
location
of large numbers of wind turbines on European farmland is unlikely
to have
detrimental effects on farmland birds," Mark Whittingham, whose team
from
Newcastle University carried out the research, said in a statement.

"This should be welcome news for nature conservationists, wind
energy
companies and policy makers."

The survey studied the impact of two wind farms on about 3,000 birds
in the
area, including five species of conservation concern -- the
yellowhammer,
the Eurasian tree sparrow, the corn bunting, the Eurasian skylark
and the
common reed bunting.

The researchers recorded the density of birds at different distances
from
the turbines and found that aside from the pheasant, the structures
posed no
problems.

The new findings are important because the European Union is
committed to
generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020
and is
also seeking to boost biodiversity.

The study did not look at the danger of the birds colliding with the
turbines, which has been a worry of conservationists, Whittingham
said.

Spanish utility Iberdrola, Germany's E.ON and Scottish & Southern
Energy all
operate wind farms.

In August, Czech power group CEZ announced plans to build the
biggest
onshore wind park in Europe.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Avril Ormsby)

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Depends on where you do your study. See:
http://www.canhydro.com/projects/wolfeislandwind/planning_docs/BSC_Bird_Report(May2004).pdf

Anywhere from 10 to 1,000 birds a month are killed by wind turbines
in
the U.S.

Ron

Those people need to stand outside sometime and watch birds fly. They
don't fly into things. The exception being a reflective window glass
in which they think they see just more sky, or perhaps another bird
they might attack. Just try it. Go bird watching.

Are you saying the people who go out and count bird carcasses under
the wind turbines in the referenced report are just making things up?

Yeah, pretty much. I'm one of those folks that have to see it to believe it and I've been around a lot of wind turbines and I can't recall ever seeing a dead bird around one. Maybe those surveyors had already been there and they pick them all up and haul them to a central location to count them.


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