Wind Turbines Kill Birds, Bats; Conservation Biologist Suggests Mitigating Renewable Energy's Effects on Wildlife

Wind turbines are among the renewable energy sources used worldwide. However, several studies suggest that they affect wildlife, especially birds.

Renewable Energy And Wildlife Can Co-Exist

Many specimens are sent to a facility in Boise, Idaho, including carcasses of birds and bats. Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, a government agency dedicated to environmental science, saw his manager roots around a pigeon's liver and place the piece in a small plastic bag before labeling it with a biohazard symbol, the Atlantic reported.

The pigeon was reportedly a demonstration specimen; samples like flesh and liver are frozen and stored. They can be processed and sent to other labs to test for toxicants or genetic analysis.

Most birds arriving in Boise have been shipped from renewable energy facilities, where hundreds of thousands of winged animals die annually from the turbine blades and other equipment.

In a separate report from the Atlantic, Kayla Fratt, a dog trainer who is also into the bat-detection business, train dogs to familiarize themselves with the scent of a dead bat, so they can look for the carcasses of dead bats killed by spinning turbines.

She trained her two collies, Barley and Niffler, because they had to spend three months on wind farms collecting dead bats.

Scientists have focused on the dangers of wind turbines to eagles and raptors. However, they later realized that big bird carcasses were simple for humans to spot.

Mark Davis, a conservation biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said clean energy projects are essential for climate change. However, he noted the significance of mitigating their effects on wildlife.

Davis supports the development of renewable energy and the conservation of biodiversity because he believes that the two things can co-exist.

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Wind Turbines a Significant Threat to Birds?

Birds face several threats - habitat loss, predation, outdoor collisions, pesticide poisoning, climate change, and more. A recent study by American Bird Conservancy and others showed a 30% decline in the total population of birds in the United States and Canada than in 1971.

Another recent research discovered that 604 North American bird species are vulnerable to climate change.

Due to climate change, renewable energy sources, including wind turbines, were developed. However, although wind turbines are a threat, more birds are killed by outdoor cats, window collisions, and other human-caused threats. When all the threats were compared side-by-side, wind turbine mortalities didn't top the list.

Wind turbines don't have the same impact on all birds. Some species are susceptible to collisions with turbines.

For instance, the Skookumchuck Wind facility in western Washington is estimated to kill 85 federally Threatened Marbled Murrelets over its 30-year permit term since it began operation in 2020. Wind facilities in southern California are also expected to kill Endangered California Condors, ABC Birds reported.

Wind turbines' impact on killing birds should not be underestimated because they are cumulative. The truth remains - it is a threat to birds.