birding-aus

mortality at wind farms

To: "John Leonard" <>
Subject: mortality at wind farms
From: Chris Charles <>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:11:35 +1100
The Mittagong (NSW) Bypass was littered with Wombat carcasses for first year it was open but you dont see them often now. Not sure if they learnt or all the local ones were killed.
Chris Charles
0412 911 184

33deg 47'30"S
151deg10'09"E





On 11/03/2008, at 9:20 PM, John Leonard wrote:

There has been some discussion of bird and bat mortality at wind- farms on
Birding-aus.

I was reading Darwin's *The Descent of Man* Chap 3 'Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and Lower Animals' in which Darwin argues that there is no absolute difference between the mental powers of humans and animals, and
that animals can, for example, learn from experience.
In this context he notes: 'I have received several accounts that when
telegraphs are first set up in any district, many birds kill themselves by flying against the wires, but that in the course of a very few years they learn to avoid this danger, by seeing, as it would appear, their comrades
killed.'

I wonder if any studies have shown a declining mortality (without a
declining population) at wind farms over time as a result of
birds learning by experience. I suppose the problem is that whereas
telegraph wires are all the same, wind turbines differ in their designs,
heights, rate of rotation &c.

--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU