Wind turbines kill birds
Credit: Sun Journal, www.sunjournal.com 26 October 2011 ~~
Angus King’s presentation in Bethel (Oct. 12) of “information” about industrial wind turbines was more than a little self-serving. Several errors have already been pointed out. I’d like to address another, namely his assertion that “house cats kill more birds than wind turbines do.”
His statistic is drawn from wind industry records – as an employee drives around the facility, he’s supposed to collect and record any dead birds he sees. If that was one per turbine per day, that could, indeed, be less than the typical cat.
But most birds aren’t killed outright. They’re knocked to the ground, often with one wing broken but able to hide in nearby vegetation. They are then killed and removed by local ground predators (coyotes, rats and so on), populations of which go way up with the food bonanza.
Research published in the Journal of Wildlife Management used motion-sensitive cameras and other techniques to show very clearly that for every dead bird recorded by industry personnel, 60 more were killed.
I would say to Mr. King that even the most committed house cat is hardly likely to kill 60 birds a day.
Sally McGuire, Carthage
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 |
 |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=14741 ]
