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[Carolinabirds] Raptors and turbo-turbines (was: Statement on Condors)



Elise Schmidt wrote: 
<snip> It seems to be that they don't see the turbine props as they rotate
at
high speeds and run into those.  The wind generators also tend to be
placed in areas that large, soaring birds would utilize to gain
altitude as well as soar or kite.   </snip>

I am really curious as to what kind of turbines those would be. We have a
fair amount of wind turbines in Holland. Most have either two or three
props. (sail arm, wing) It also tends to get windy from time to time in
Holland. However, I have never seen the arms rotate so fast that it was
impossible to see them anymore. In strong winds they also tend to shut them
down, to prevent damage to the machinery. I always understood raptors had
far superior eyes compared to humans, which makes me wonder why the birds
would not be able to see the arms rotate. 
The biggest problem with windmills occur in times of low visibility. The
most obvious times are nights, when you may have a problem with nocturnally
migrating passerines which bump into not illuminated turbines (or on the
contrary get attracted to the lights and bump into the thing) (even though
lighthouses tend to render a high variety of migrants (even rarities) but
low amounts of fatalities, because birds get disoriented, but will not fly
at full speed into the light) (but then again, lighthouses don't have
rotating arms)
The other danger time is when it is misty, which can be a serious problem
over here. I also remember a study into a prospective wind-farm in Scotland,
which was planned on the day migrating route of a large group white-fronted
geese. The geese had to pass the mills twice a day, to get from their
resting area to their feeding grounds. Geese tend to flock, which would
result in massive damage when a group would hit the wind farm in the mist.
In the end they decided not to build the wind farm because of the geese.
Hope this is of mild interest to the discussion.

cheers,
Jan-Joost
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Jan-Joost Bouwman
Zeist, The Netherlands
mailto:Jan-Joost.Bouwman@comsys.nl 
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