The idea of wind turbines has struck up a lot of interest in northern Ohio. It may be important for us to know we cannot have our cake and eat it too. A big concern with erecting wind turbines should be the birds that migrate through this area. They must stop in an environment with the vital food supply for them to “fatten up” for the long journey north, returning in the fall for the journey south.
You may think that wind turbines would not be detrimental, but they would be a big factor in the natural process of migration. The small birds that migrate through here travel at night to avoid the hawks and larger birds that migrate during the daylight. Thousands of birds will die by flying into wind turbines with their huge metal arms turning in the air.
Bird watching is a precious resource in our community; bird-watchers flock to our community to see the migrating birds and the nesting eagles. They spend millions of dollars in this community, money that does not include other recreational activities.
Anyone interested in or in favor of wind turbines should take the time to visit with members of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Learn about the 80,000 different migrating birds and the volunteers who band and document our feathered friends.
Migrating birds depend on our community for their very lives. It is important for Ottawa County residents to know that the leaders of our communities do not need your permission or your vote to erect wind turbines; it would be a good idea to change this policy. The cake we eat may be stale when we have to pay the consequences of destroying one of our community’s most previous resources.
Linda Migas
Port Clinton
25 August 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/08/25/wind-power-dangerous-for-birds/