I have a few questions about OBPs and wind farms.
1. Do the OBPs migrate across Bass Strait and then spread out along the
coast? Or do they migrate direct to their wintering areas?
2. I have experienced wind farms at Esperance in WA and Rottnest Island.
What surprised me was the noise as the turbines spun. You certainly would
not want to live next door to one. Maybe the latest technology is much
quieter? If there is considerable noise, what is the effect of the noise
on the surrounding birds over a period of time? Do the birds tolerate it,
or do they move away? If they stay, is their hearing affected as a
human's hearing would be if subjected to such noises as in industrial
deafness?
3. 40 bird strikes per turbine per year is quoted by Jon Starks from
overseas. I am sure that the birds could see the turbines in normal
conditions. So does anyone know if these strikes are during darkness?
during storms? 40 single strikes, or one or two mass strikes? Large
birds or small birds?
All things being equal, I would support wind farms. However they still
need backup power generation for periods of no wind, and periods of strong
winds (I think the wind farm in Esperance shuts down if the wind exceeds
30 knots or something similar).
I also wonder whether Dean Marr is a necessary location. I don't know the
area at all. Would there be somewhere else close by? I assume not if
they knew of the sensitivity of the site? Will all the wind farms be
connected into one power supply network, or is each just for the local
area? If they are talking about 1,000 farms over time, then surely one
less is not such a big issue? especially if they form a network.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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