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Keeping the birds and turbines apart

For years, large numbers of birds of prey have been killed by turbines at Altamonte Pass, California and on Spanish mountain ridges. This was always attributed to tower design and above-ground wiring.  Not so, say British ornithologists. It’s the way birds see.

We’re used to looking straight ahead, but birds are more likely to look sideways, above and behind the head. This provides a wider field of view – important for hunting and detecting predators – but it reduces forward vision. Even the peregrine falcon, so sharp-eyed it can spot and catch other birds on the wing, relies mainly on side vision to see its prey, switching to forward vision only at close range.
Prof. Graham Martin, an ornithologist at the University of Birmingham has been studying raptor vision with Dr. Steven Portugal of the Royal Veterinary College and Campbell Murn from the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire, UK. They measured the visual fields of griffon vultures and African white-backed vultures. “I used the same device that an optician would use when you get an eye test,” he says.
The vultures have large fields of vision to give them a comprehensive look at the ground ahead and the sky on either side. This allows them to scan for food and watch the other vultures in the flock. But as the birds fly, they tilt their heads downwards and the space directly in front of them becomes a blind area.
This is a real problem when humans erect large objects in the vultures’ way. “Across Africa and southern Europe, vultures have become frequent casualties of collisions with wind farms,” says Portugal. “It’s an innate behavioural trait that is causing the problem. The speed of the rotating blade doesn’t help.”
This means making wind turbines more conspicuous won’t reduce collisions. “You can paint them with bright stripes or hang things off them, but that won’t be effective. You’ve got to keep the birds and the turbines apart.”

Both the Altamonte Pass industrial wind turbines and the ones on Spanish ridges are built on migratory pathways where millions of birds funnel through a north-south corridor. Does that sound familiar? It’s obvious from the high bird kill on Wolfe Island that placing industrial wind turbines on this area’s migration flyway is disastrous to birds. The new study helps us understand why.

Prince Edward County, on that same flyway as Wolfe Island, is the wrong place to build industrial wind turbines. That’s what science is telling us. The proof is in.

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Trees downed along Hilltop RoadPrince Edward County Field Naturalists report a recent tour of the proposed site for the White Pines Project industrial wind turbines shows road work already under way.
“This premature road construction before any public consultation has taken place is abhorrent,” says Cheryl Anderson, of PECFN. “Does WPD think that the citizens of Prince Edward County are just going to sit idly by while the South Shore IBA is attacked in this fashion?”
The 29-turbine site is to be developed in South Marysburgh and Athol by WPD Canada. Company officials will set up display panels and answer questions Thursday, March 22 from 5:30-8 p.m. at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute.
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March 27 – Bloomfield Town Hall 7pm Molly Mulloy presents the vast flooded prairies, interior B.C., remote Alaskan and Yukon towns and villages, gold rush routes, and spectacular ocean, river and mountain vistas. This journey gives a wonderful, accessible perspective into the grandeur and vastness of our homeland, especially the northwest. Hosted by the Prince Edward Field Naturalists
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The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists, founded in 1997, is an affiliate of Ontario Nature. It provides an educational forum dedicated to the study, promotion, appreciation and conservation of the flora and fauna within Prince Edward County. The public is welcome at the meetings held on the last Tuesday of the month from September to May, except December, at Bloomfield Town Hall. Guest speakers introduce a variety of nature related topics. All members are encouraged to participate at meetings by sharing their experiences and observations. Regularly scheduled field trips in the vicinity offer members the opportunity to experience various habitats. Membership in PECFN is open to all. Contact: Prince Edward County Field Naturalists, P.O. Box 477, Bloomfield, Ontario K0K 1G0 Or Cheryl Anderson 613-471-1096

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  1. David Norman says:

    Not to worry! Apparently the Suzuki Foundation, proponents of Industrial Wind Turbine development, are already on the case. I understand that they are researching the design of millions of tiny eyeglasses for birds to help them see the turbine blades… David Suzuki was apparently heard to say, “design eyeglasses for birds, no sweat, after all I genetically modified millions of fruit flies to look like miniature Dalton McGuinty’s”. The tiny eyeglasses will be made available to the birds at Hackems Optical.

  2. Pamela Stagg says:

    I was shocked when the president of wpd said he had never heard of Wolfe Island and the high bird kill there.

    But, of course, everyone from Stantec and wpd passed the buck back to the McGuinty government, saying they were operating within the law and respecting the Ministry of NAtural Resources guidelines. That despite the fact that the MNR’s Significant Wildlife Habitat Technical Guide says that migratory stopover areas (such as the South Shore Important Bird Area) should be protected in their entirety and not reduced in area. It seems to me that erecting industrial wind turbines in a migratory bird stopover area will certainly reduce them in area.

  3. Doris Lane says:

    It was really apparent at the meeting of White Pines tonight–thursday- that they do not have any respect for the residents of South Marysburgh and the birds of our county.
    By reviewing the map they presented it looks as if this will be a very divisive matter for township.

  4. Chris Keen says:

    WPD clearly has nothing but contempt for the IWT approval process and the citizens of the County. Sadly this nonsense is tacitly approved by the McGuinty government.

    I wait breathlessly for the CSG rebuttal of the professors’ research!

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