How Many Birds Are Killed By Wind, Solar, Oil, And Coal?

[Harold Schranz <>]

Dear Linda

I think cats are a serious problem when they are uncontrolled or become feral pests. A relevant article:

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/natural-born-killers-the-problem-with-cats

notes:

"... the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), which runs private conservation reserves across the nation, released a report in December which estimated the impact of the 5-18 million feral cats on native species such as bilbies and numbats.

Each cat takes 5-30 animals a night, says the AWC, so (using a conservative population estimate of 15 million) they conclude that a minimum of 75 million native animals are killed daily. In a country struggling to conserve its unique fauna, the scale of this figure should not be underestimated."

"Across the Tasman in New Zealand it is birds rather than mammals that have suffered, many of them flightless ground-dwellers. There's the lamentable story of the Stephens Island wren, one of only three flightless songbirds ever known. It was discovered by lighthouse keeper David Lyall in 1894, only to be hunted to extinction by his pet cat and a number of others shortly after."

So while foxes are too a problem, the cat problem, especially in urban areas bordering green space is very significant. No doubt this is why newer suburbs such as Forde and Bonner bordering Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve etc have the Domestic Animals (Cat Containment) Amendment Act (passed into law in 2005) which requires residents in Forde and nearby Bonner to keep any cats indoors or in an outdoor enclosure 24 hours per day."

As the above article states:  all "Cats should also wear a collar with a bell, or, even better, a sonar beeper that produces high-pitched tones, which doesn't bother cats, but alerts birds to their presence." It would be interesting to study how effective a measure that is!

Harold

On 27 August 2014 14:11, Linda Beveridge <> wrote:

Thank you for these references, Harold.
 ... and cats don't seem to kill as many as natural life cycle, natural predators and foxes....
Cheers,
L

-----Original Message-----
From: Harold Schranz [
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2014 12:13 PM
To:
Subject: How Many Birds Are Killed By Wind, Solar, Oil, And Coal?

Hi Bird Folk

I came across a USA Study on "How Many Birds Are Killed By Wind, Solar, Oil, And Coal?" which is partially related to the recent August thread in on the "Potential impact on birds by large solar plants that concentrate the sun's rays".