Comments on: Using Radar to Protect Birds from Wind Farms

By: ken upton

ken upton — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:37:03 +0000

Birds do not fly as fast as the tips of the the big blades with can reach the speeds of around 300 knots. The problem is our birds pray have long vision only when they are hunting and when they swoop down for their pray at about 120 knots . Get hit and are eaten by foxes at the base or manage to fly off with injuries only to die off later from them . So there is no real facts on how many these monsters kill. This is destroying the natural pyramid and the small pest get out of control . Like a few years ago , the voles destroyed some major harvests in Spain. Bankrupting many small farmers

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:55:56 +0000

It frustrates me that this debate is still ongoing, as the number of bird deaths due to wind turbines is insignificant. Cats outnumber the number wind turbines considerably. A study done by the American Bird Conservancy in Wisconsin estimates that feral and domestic cats are responsible for 39 million bird deaths a year. Nearly a billion birds die due to glass windows in buildings.

Some others include:
Collisions with vehicles- 60 million
Utility Transmission and Distribution lines – 174 million
Lighted Communications Towers- 50 million
Agricultural Pesticides- 67 million

See (www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html)

If wind turbines were the only thing killing birds, I would be more sympathetic with the conservationists’ argument. But considering the comparatively slight influence wind energy has on bird deaths, excuse me if I’m a little dismissive of 7000 birds.

By: John Boston

John Boston — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:28:01 +0000

Kyle, if I found out that windmills preferred starlings and house sparrows, I’d say we build as many as possible!

By: Kyle Harris

Kyle Harris — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:27:44 +0000

Hopefully those birds are from one of the many invasive species that occupy our vast country.

By: Norman Wolf

Norman Wolf — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:27:25 +0000

Whatever it takes to get off of foreign oil, that’s fine with me. Trying to solve that is #1… if at first we don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try again. And, keep trying.

By: John Boston

John Boston — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:27:08 +0000

Nice idea, but considering how fast the birds fly, and how slowly the giant blades rotate, the fact that the blades will shut down won’t keep birds from hitting them. It’s the space the blades and towers occupy within the birds’ flight paths that is the problem.

Not that I am against wind farms. Even if they kill 10x as many birds as estimated, I bet that pales in comparison to those killed by more traditional methods of energy production.

By: Dan Chance

Dan Chance — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:45:13 +0000

Let’s see save the birds or save the planet? hummm save the birds or save the planet… I think the people should come first and that they should do what they can to reduce the impact on the birds but that if people don’t take action that can reduce the carbon dioxide substantially and very soon, millions of birds will perish along with billions of humans.

I wonder do birds avoid loud noises or other irritants like people do? If so could wind generators be equipped with some warning device that would simply direct birds to a safe altitude, continue flying and continue operating?

By: Bill McLachlan

Bill McLachlan — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:12:26 +0000

It would seem that the development of technology that would emit a sound frequency (or a smell) abhorrent to birds would be more efficient in the sense of not having to shutdown the wind farm.

By: Elke Sachsenmaier

Elke Sachsenmaier — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:50:58 +0000

Hello there,

Though I’m not a so called conservationist I’m sure that it would be better to place the NEW wind farms away from migratory routes of the birds. But in cases of the already existing ones it’s great to have a solution now! I’m just wondering if ALL the owners of that farms will install the new system. But I really hope that they’ll do so.

Thanks for your work and for keeping me informed about the newest steps towards a healthier future. I’d dance around the table if you’d soon announce an invention regarding AIRCRAFT that could avoid its totally underrated POLLUTION. Is there anything coming up in the near future? If not….black screen for life on this planet.
With hopeful greetings

Elke Sachsenmaier