A very, very rare bird suffers death by wind turbine.

[mountainm]

I wonder how many rare birds would have to be killed by wind turbines before people would start to question their wisdom?

Had this bird had been killed by fracking, would its death have been met with so much shrugging?

Frankly Yes. In my opinion.

It's not a rare bird btw, only a rare visitor, ie. it doesn't really belong here.

What I find more laughable is that had this been a pigeon or seagull no one would care. It's because the bird is "beautiful" and "rare" that it causes outcry.

Such double standards.

 

[nitrambur]

How does a bird that's flown so far manage to hit what is effectively a 6m diameter disk? It's got the whole sky to play in

 

[calgarychef]

I talked to a guy in Canada who does daily maintenance on one of the dreaded wind turbine, he is an outdoorsman and a bit of a conservationist like all of us are, so I believe he's telling the truth. He says that in a period of about two years of daily inspections on the site he only found ONE dead bird. I don't know any more than that but I gotta believe this guy, he's there every day.

 

[mountainm]

I suspect cars and pet cats are responsible for far more bird deaths per week, by a substantial order of magnitude.

 

[Wook]

What I find more laughable is that had this been a pigeon or seagull no one would care. It's because the bird is "beautiful" and "rare" that it causes outcry.

Such double standards.

That's where you're wrong. A photo of a seagull ostensibly decapitated by a wind turbine was posted in a national newspaper not but a few weeks back, and it was indeed the source of considerable outcry.

The link is here - click it at your own discretion.

Up my way they have been conducting seismic surveys of the sea floor in preparation for building an offshore windfam. There has also been a slew of marine mammal strandings. So far any causal link has been denied.

On wind turbines I tend to think they are quite a good idea on a house. Maybe not such a good idea to build 200 of them 150m tall on top of moorland used by birds.

They are not as green as everyone seems to think. But many people have a lot invested in them financially, emotionally, politically and ideologically. For many, it will be a cold day in hell before they ever admit they maybe wind turbines weren't such a good idea to begin with.

I'm open to the idea that I might be wrong about wind turbines, although at the moment I don't think so.

 

[mountainm]

That's where you're wrong. A photo of a seagull ostensibly decapitated by a wind turbine was posted in a national newspaper not but a few weeks back, and it was indeed the source of considerable outcry.

The link is here - click it at your own discretion.

Up my way they have been conducting seismic surveys of the sea floor in preparation for building an offshore windfam. There has also been a slew of marine mammal strandings. So far any causal link has been denied.

On wind turbines I tend to think they are quite a good idea on a house. Maybe not such a good idea to build 200 of them 150m tall on top of moorland used by birds.

They are not as green as everyone seems to think. But many people have a lot invested in them financially, emotionally, politically and ideologically. For many, it will be a cold day in hell before they ever admit they maybe wind turbines weren't such a good idea to begin with.

I'm open to the idea that I might be wrong about wind turbines, although at the moment I don't think so.

Interesting, did it make the actual paper, or just the blog of that particular journo?

 

[Wook]

Interesting, did it make the actual paper, or just the blog of that particular journo?

Did that particular photo appear in the print edition of that particular paper? As far as I can tell - no.

But a google image search for "birds killed by wind turbines" reveals a great many images, from a great many news sources.

 

[Toddy]

Hand up I admit my bias; I know they're not perfect, in any sense, but they're a step along the way, and every step is a learning process x thousands.
In the lifetime of most of us on this forum alone the development and improvement in technology is nothing short of miraculous. That we can sit in our own homes (or cars, tents, whatever) and talk to the world on the net is one of the clearest demonstrations of that.....and the technology is constantly improving. Led's for instance. Tiny wee batteries now, huge light output. Energy efficiency combined with improved technology cuts the fuel burden.
I know there's an 'eventually' in there, but if we don't make the first steps we'd have been stuck in the stone age.

Tbh, I quite like the wind turbines, though I think the wave power would be more consistantly effective if we could get the stability right.
We'll see.
I'm not allowed to criticise public figures on the forum beyond a quiet aside. However, sleekitly funding protest groups isn't going to persuade anyone to admire his hairstyle

Smaller versions of the turbines are going up on houses and farms around here; lot of solar panels too where the roofs face south. Folk are trying, and they're aware.

I'm sorry the wee bird seems to have hit the windvane thing; but as I said, how the hang did it manage it when it seems to have managed to cross all those thousands of miles of open sky in the first place ?

cheers,
M

 

[HarrogateTobias]

Meanwhile, in Africa...

 

[British Red]

I'm not allowed to criticise public figures on the forum beyond a quiet aside. However, sleekitly funding protest groups isn't going to persuade anyone to admire his hairstyle


cheers,
M

Can I criticise him please - the man is a grotesque caricature.

We go got our own back though - we sent them Piers Morgan!

 

[Passer]

That's where you're wrong. A photo of a seagull ostensibly decapitated by a wind turbine was posted in a national newspaper not but a few weeks back, and it was indeed the source of considerable outcry.

The link is here - click it at your own discretion.

Up my way they have been conducting seismic surveys of the sea floor in preparation for building an offshore windfam. There has also been a slew of marine mammal strandings. So far any causal link has been denied.

On wind turbines I tend to think they are quite a good idea on a house. Maybe not such a good idea to build 200 of them 150m tall on top of moorland used by birds.

They are not as green as everyone seems to think. But many people have a lot invested in them financially, emotionally, politically and ideologically. For many, it will be a cold day in hell before they ever admit they maybe wind turbines weren't such a good idea to begin with.

I'm open to the idea that I might be wrong about wind turbines, although at the moment I don't think so.

I agree with your thoughts on turbines. The idea of our landscape being littered with obsolete, decaying structures, for future generations to deal with, does little for my idea of leaving the world in good order, for the ones who follow.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I'm at a loss to understand how a wind turbine can decapitate a bird.........................the turbines I've seen turn around relatively slowly. it's not as if they're spinning like fans...........anyway even if the bird is killed by a wind turbine, can we condemn the turbines.?.............

 

[Mesquite]

I'm at a loss to understand how a wind turbine can decapitate a bird.........................the turbines I've seen turn around relatively slowly. it's not as if they're spinning like fans...........anyway even if the bird is killed by a wind turbine, can we condemn the turbines.?.............

The large white turbines you see might not chop the head off a bird but I've seen turbines like the one pictured in the article working and they spin round at a real pace. That speed, combined with thinner vanes, and I can well believe it did the injuries to the bird.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

The idea of our landscape being littered with obsolete, decaying structures, for future generations to deal with, does little for my idea of leaving the world in good order, for the ones who follow.

You're probably right, much better to leave tons of nuclear waste & radioactive land where the decommissioned reactors were for them to deal with........as you say, leaving obsolete decaying structures which can be dismantled & recycled in a few days leaving little long term damage to the enviroment & also offering the future generations alternative non polluting sources of energy can't really be called leaving the world in good order can it ?..

 

[Wook]

You're probably right, much better to leave tons of nuclear waste & radioactive land where the decommissioned reactors were for them to deal with........as you say, leaving obsolete decaying structures which can be dismantled & recycled in a few days leaving little long term damage to the enviroment & also offering the future generations alternative non polluting sources of energy can't really be called leaving the world in good order can it ?..

Now this is what you call a "false dichotomy", presenting two choices among many as if they were the only alternatives.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Now this is what you call a "false dichotomy", presenting two choices among many as if they were the only alternatives.

Errrrr yeah right ! ......folk who are anti turbines or anti any other forms of 'alternative' energy come to that, are usually pro nuclear.......which is why I limited the choices but saying that is probably another false di.....dico.....ditomy.......whatever !!

 

[JedKent]

Maybe we could put some baffles in front of the turbines to deflect the birds? Oh wait...

 

[Goatboy]

Errrrr yeah right ! ......folk who are anti turbines or anti any other forms of 'alternative' energy come to that, are usually pro nuclear.......which is why I limited the choices but saying that is probably another false di.....dico.....ditomy.......whatever !!

But everything has a cost, whether fiscal, visual, political, environmental, ethical etc. It's what we're presented with as fact's and how we decide that should maybe be more to the fore. If we could make rational decisions rather than have folks try to emotionally blackmail us then we might get further. But facts take a back seat on both sides of the arguments I feel.

 

[mountainm]

We could burn the dead birds as biomass! Win, Win!

 

[slowworm]

Errrrr yeah right ! ......folk who are anti turbines or anti any other forms of 'alternative' energy come to that, are usually pro nuclear.......which is why I limited the choices but saying that is probably another false di.....dico.....ditomy.......whatever !!

I fail to see the usefulness of turbines considering how little energy they actually produce coupled with the fact there doesn't seem to be much emphasis on reducing our power consumption. And when you look into the amount of toxic waste produced in making them and solar panels (which includes radioactive waste, but not in our backyard so not many worry about it) it's not a simple answer as to which is best.

Back to the bird, it's not inconceivable that birds are attracted to turbines is it? I thought raptors often hunted near busy roads as the vibrations bring up invertebrates for things to feed on?