Bird Kills, What Bird Kills?
You will hear many proponents express that more birds are killed by cars, cats, or electric poles than wind turbines. Dr. Michael Frye of ABC (American Bird Conservancy) says that all bird kills are cumulative, and if wind production increases rapidly as the US and Canada intend, we can expect in the US alone, some 300,000 bird deaths per year! How many more in Canada? Is this acceptable in any fashion?
Please read Robert Bryce's excellent expose:
http://www.counterpunch.org/bryce09112009.html
Please read more about animal trauma, confusion, displacement, the dangers of the electric grid on the floor of the Lake to aquatic species, sleep deprivation; yes, they get it, too! And deaths of populations. This is not to be taken lightly.
Habitat Fragmentation
http://scienceblogs.com/voltagegate/2007/12/wind_power_habitat_fragmentati.php
Impact on Wildlife
http://www.wind-watch.org/faq-wildlife.php
Vibrations felt from 20 km away!
Effects on Animals
http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/wind-turbine-placement-must-consider-vibration-effect-on-animals/
Animals and Wind
http://www.capecodtoday.com/news68.htm
The Hoosac Wind Project, a plan to build turbines on two ridges in western Massachusetts, has been delayed for research into the effects on migrating bats and birds. Plans to erect two dozen turbines near Crieff, Scotland were rejected because of ecological concerns; and a company abandoned a proposal to build 20 turbines elsewhere in Britain due to the risk to golden eagles and red kites. Golden eagles' traditional nesting places are usually found in open moors and on mountains, and may be used for generations. Red kites, already put at risk by collisions with power cables, have been the subjects of the longest continuous conservation project in the world.
A Norwegian wind farm recently raised concerns when nine sea eagles were reported to have died after colliding with turbine rotor blades. These deaths included all of the previous year's chicks, and the number of breeding pairs on the islands dropped from 19 to one in the same period. In contrast, a study using radar found that geese and eider ducks nearly always flew safely down the corridors between the 72 turbines of Denmark's Nysted wind farm in the Baltic Sea. Less than one per cent flew close enough to the blades to risk collision, and many birds avoided the wind farm altogether. And although many birds frequent Blyth, on the coast of northeast England, its wind farm has reportedly caused only one or two collisions per year per turbine. Compare that to 10 million birds killed in Britain annually by cars. Still, researchers warn about the possible cumulative effect of more and more wind farms.
http://www.friendsofanimals.org/actionline/Summer-2007/wind_farms.php |
