DOOM FOR VULTURES

COULD wind farms hasten the local extinction of an endangered vulture in southern Spain?

Studies have so far focused on the short-term effects of wind turbines, looking at the number of bird collisions per turbine per year. Martina Carrete of the Donana Biological Station in Seville and colleagues took a new approach. They recorded the number of Egyptian vulture carcasses with collision injuries found around 675 wind turbines in southern Spain between 2004 to 2008. They then plugged this information and data on wind turbine locations and vulture nesting sites across Spain into a computer model to predict what will happen to the entire population of Spanish birds over the next 100 years. The results suggest that if the number of wind turbines stays the same as it is today, the population will go extinct 10 years sooner than if there were no wind farms.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327243.100-circling-turbines-spell-doom-for-vultures.html

RSPB Blames Deaths of Rare Eagles on Turbines

Wind turbines have caused the death of four rare, white-tailed eagles on islands off the Norwegian coast, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said yesterday.

The failure of as many as 30 other white-tailed eagles to return to breeding areas has added to concerns about the impact of wind farms on wildlife.
Europe's largest eagle is found on the island of Smola, Norway.

The birds have also begun returning to the Western Isles and Highlands of Scotland. The dead birds were discovered between August and December. Two had been sliced in half, apparently by a rotating blade.