Wind Turbines wiping out bats and birds in USA

[keithlucky]

Between19.000.000 and39.000.000 dead bats and birds killed in the USA killed each year by wind turbines http://www.masterresource.org/2013/09/hiding-avian-mortality-altamont-pass

 

[Methuselah]

Sounds rather far-fetched to me...Why weren't all European birds and bats wiped-out in the middle ages, by windmills?

[knocker]

The USGS are investigating the bat problem.

 

Bat Fatalities at Wind Turbines: Investigating the Causes and Consequences

http://www.fort.usgs.gov/BatsWindmills/

[laserguy]

Sounds rather far-fetched to me...Why weren't all European birds and bats wiped-out in the middle ages, by windmills?

 

Less windmills than turbines / location / speed of blades / closer to the ground etc etc. How do you know what the casualty rate from windmills was, anyway? Don't suppose anyone gave a monkey's anyway - there wouldn't have been anyone dishing out grants to investigate the phenomenon then.

[Methuselah]

Less windmills than turbines / location / speed of blades / closer to the ground etc etc. How do you know what the casualty rate from windmills was, anyway? Don't suppose anyone gave a monkey's anyway - there wouldn't have been anyone dishing out grants to investigate the phenomenon then.

I don't know, barrie; that's why I asked the question...But claims like this - doom-mongering about the demise of God's little critters - should always invite scepticism.

[Jax]

Do not buy it, bat radar and birds pin sharp eyesight?

[Steve C]

Whatever (and I don't really believe the published stats - although I'm not having a go at the author here) I'm pretty confident that massively more wildlife is / and will be killed by the more insidious energy production methods that we humans currently employ.

 

I despair for our future generations (absolutely sincerely, as I won't be around to suffer the full effects) as I think we are behaving like (urban myth I know) lemmings, rushing to disaster.

[frogesque]

I think if you compare the annual toll of wildlife roadkill to that of wind turbines it will bring it more into perspective.

 

I watched a skein of geese negotiate a flight path through a windfarm the other day and they didn't really seem to be perturbed. Swans and geese swallowing lead shot however die a really horible death from lead poisoning.

 

More on topic: certain bats maybe more susceptable to ultrasonic frequencies generated by turbine tip vortices - possibly to the point of 'deafening' them. This could be similar to the anecdotal claims that whales and dolphins are affected by shipping. Truth is, I don't know but the claims do warrent futher investigation.

[knocker]

Do not buy it, bat radar and birds pin sharp eyesight?

 

Well the USGS is a pretty reliable source.

[knocker]

A theory.

 

[The watcher]

I seen this argument somewhere before but it was put down as a myth.

Generally most animals tend to stay away from large moving man made objects.

[knocker]

How can it be a myth?

 

Dead bats are turning up beneath wind turbines all over the world. Bat fatalities have now been documented at nearly every wind facility in North America where adequate surveys for bats have been conducted, and several of these sites are estimated to cause the deaths of thousands of bats per year

 

[Crepuscular Ray]

The issue for birds is mostly for night-time migrants - they can't see the turbines and don't have echolocation like bats. Even for bats, the turbines will cause confusion because of the speed of rotation - when the bat's 15 feet away, there's an airspace; when it gets there, it splats into a turbine blade. With olde-fashioned windmills, there was also noise that they'd have learned to avoid. The noise that wind turbines makes isn't one they know yet and - according to speculation I've seen somewhere but can't remember where - might even drown out the echolocation squeaks of several species.

[knocker]

Do you not believe the air pressure theory then CR?

[The watcher]

I don't believe the air-pressure theory but rather just that they get caught up/hit by the blades.

http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2012/03/01/study-turbine-blades-not-air-pressure-kill-bats/

[Jax]

Well the USGS is a pretty reliable source.

Yes they are but there is nothing to compare the stats against for windmills of the past for example, this is just a "now" figure, but human influence against nature (birds) can also be said for cars hitting birds, birds flying into windows and the biggest killer of them all, domestic cats.

 

I also think the headline "wiping out bats and birds" is a bit OTT, that implies they will be killing them all?

[Methuselah]

Yes they are but there is nothing to compare the stats against for windmills of the past for example, this is just a "now" figure, but human influence against nature (birds) can also be said for cars hitting birds, birds flying into windows and the biggest killer of them all, domestic cats.

 

I also think the headline "wiping out bats and birds" is a bit OTT, that implies they will be killing them all?

And, of course, birds and bats never hit conventional power-lines? Could it be something that the fossil-fuel lobby is making the most of, to counter the stuff about polar bears?

[Jax]

And, of course, birds and bats never hit conventional power-lines? Could it be something that the fossil-fuel lobby is making the most of, to counter the stuff about polar bears?

We could all stop using electicity and "get on with it instead" so we do not need any of this, otherwise I cannot see a plausable solution to the problem.

 

 

Oh and birds like the wires to rest on