According to the higher estimate, wind turbines killed over three hundred thousand birds globally and possibly as many as one and a half million bats. (Science Daily: Wind turbines killing more than just local birds)
All together with the Mark Twain mantra: there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Repeat as necessary.
We can't vouch for the numbers but we can go with the estimates, which vary widely, as a general point of discussion since likely there's no disagreement wind turbines kill birds, the question is how many of them. The article goes into more depth on the matter since it's asking where do the birds originate. There's the general thinking the wind turbines only kill creatures which live in that area but that's not true. They studied golden eagles and the ones killed may have come from hundreds of miles away.
The article also resolved the question of how can these large and beautiful raptors, apparently intelligent aviators, can be so damn dumb as to fly into the relatively slow-moving blade of a wind turbine. Cripes, Big Bird, didn't you fookin' see it??
The researchers theorize the favorite food for golden eagles is a California ground squirrel of which there are plenty around the turbines. The golden eagle is a soaring bird which is scanning the ground directly below as it searches for prey and it has no awareness of the potential threat from the wind turbine because trees don't have multi-ton rotating branches. Whack and another deceased eagle.
"Eagles tend to use that habitat around the turbines. It's windy there, so they can save energy and soar, and their preferred prey, California ground squirrels, is abundant there," said J. Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue professor of genetics in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. "As they soar, these eagles are often looking straight down, and they fail to see the rapidly moving turbine blades. They get hit by the blades and carcasses are found on the ground under the turbines."
All together with the Mark Twain mantra: there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Repeat as necessary.
We can't vouch for the numbers but we can go with the estimates, which vary widely, as a general point of discussion since likely there's no disagreement wind turbines kill birds, the question is how many of them. The article goes into more depth on the matter since it's asking where do the birds originate. There's the general thinking the wind turbines only kill creatures which live in that area but that's not true. They studied golden eagles and the ones killed may have come from hundreds of miles away.
The article also resolved the question of how can these large and beautiful raptors, apparently intelligent aviators, can be so damn dumb as to fly into the relatively slow-moving blade of a wind turbine. Cripes, Big Bird, didn't you fookin' see it??
The researchers theorize the favorite food for golden eagles is a California ground squirrel of which there are plenty around the turbines. The golden eagle is a soaring bird which is scanning the ground directly below as it searches for prey and it has no awareness of the potential threat from the wind turbine because trees don't have multi-ton rotating branches. Whack and another deceased eagle.
"Eagles tend to use that habitat around the turbines. It's windy there, so they can save energy and soar, and their preferred prey, California ground squirrels, is abundant there," said J. Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue professor of genetics in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. "As they soar, these eagles are often looking straight down, and they fail to see the rapidly moving turbine blades. They get hit by the blades and carcasses are found on the ground under the turbines."
- Science Daily
That explains how it happens but it doesn't explain what anyone will do about it. Right now it seems what people will do is install more of them because we need electric cars or iPhone 7s or something. Regardless of the actual number, the wind turbines kill birds and bats so there needs to be some responsibility for that but there doesn't seem much of it floating about.
How's your sci-fi playing for this one as will you make a GMO golden eagle? All you need is these cool behavioral characteristics from Vaux's Swift, a highly-skilled pilot with no interest in soaring, so take a few of those genes and drop them down into the golden eagle's genome. In a few generations, you have smarter eagles, yes?
(Ed: or FrankenEagle!)
Yah, we do see how that could be a problem. These avian terrors will make "The Birds" look like a comedy show.
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