birding-aus

Solar-power that kills birds

To: Eric Jeffrey <>
Subject: Solar-power that kills birds
From: Michael Tarburton <>
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 14:12:24 +1100
Wind Farms in Tassie have been shown to not affect 80% of species at one farm and 83% of species at the other. However, that hides some important facts: White-throated Needltails are the #1 being destroyed at one of those farms and #2 at the other. Why is it that one of the fasted flying birds in the world is being killed by wind turbines?

Short-tailed Shearwaters (better know as Mutton Birds) are the #1 being killed at the 2nd wind farm. One common feature between these two species is their long wings.


Swifts do inhabit the USA - are they not near wind farms?, not near the wind farms that are cooperating in the US study? or not being picked up by the study methods employed in the US?

The Tassie study is :

Hull, C.L., Stark, E.M., Peruzzo, S. & Sims, C.C. (2013).
Avian collisions at two wind farms in Tasmania, Australia: taxonomic and ecological characteristics of colliders versus noncolliders.
New Zealand Journal of Zoology 40, 47-62.

This looks like a challenging and interesting topic.

Happy thinking


Mike


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Michael Tarburton

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On 04/03/2015, at 12:26 PM, Eric Jeffrey via Birding-Aus wrote:

There definitely have been some deaths from solar farms, including rate Yuma Clapper Rails. The good news is that this seems to be a matter that may be fixed by design changes. Neither wind turbines nor solar farms are major contributors to avian deaths in the States. The big ones remain habitat loss, cats, and collisions with structures.

Eric Jeffrey
Falls Church, VA
USA

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 3, 2015, at 8:13 PM, John Leonard <> wrote:

The daily mail isn't a reliable source of information about anything.

John Leonard

On 4 Mar 2015, at 12:08 pm, Michael Tarburton <> wrote:

G'day Readers

Cats, and wind turbines are not the only thinks killing birds. This article is from the USA, but it might pay us to be aware of the problem.

This is just one of the links to newspapers dealing with the issue, but it is less encumbered with forced advertising than the one my wife sent me.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2965070/Solar-farm- sets-130-birds-FIRE-Extreme-glow-power-plant-ignites-creatures- mid-air-tests.html

One article says Obama is ignoring the issues on this one, another says Google is part owner & that might explain why some of my searches goofed up!

Sad reading


Mike

===================
Michael Tarburton

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