Are windmills killing too many birds?

[church mouse guy]

According to the news, The American Bird Conservancy is filing a lawsuit against the federal government for intending to issue 30-year permits to windmill farms to make them exempt from legal penalties for killing eagles, a protected species, as you know.

Fox News notes:

"According to federal biologists, wind farms in 10 states have killed at least 85 eagles since 1997, with most deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012, as the industry was greatly expanding. Most deaths — 79 — were golden eagles that struck wind turbines. One of the eagles counted in the study was electrocuted by a power line."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-challenges-feds-over-wind-farm-eagle-deaths/

The liberal American Bird Conservancy said in their petition to the federal government:

"Based on the operation of approximately 22,000 turbines, FWS [US Fish and Wildlife Service] estimated in 2009 that at least 440,000 birds were killed each year by wind turbines. By 2020, there are expected to be more than 100,000 wind turbines in the United States and these are expected to kill at least one million birds each year, an estimate that ABC believes will be exceeded significantly. Further, wind energy projects are also expected to impact almost 20,000 square miles of terrestrial habitat, and another 4,000 square miles of marine habitat."

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/wind_rulemaking_petition.pdf

A million birds a year--no wonder Michael Reagan commented that wildlife lovers are calling windmills "bird blenders."

http://www.newsmax.com/Reagan/Windmills-wind-solar-obama/2013/11/26/id/538744/

 

[carpro]

It's a crock.

Those huge windmills turn slow enough for a turtle to get out of the way.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

It's a crock.

Those huge windmills turn slow enough for a turtle to get out of the way.

Prove it.:type:

 

[kyredneck]

Windmills are a crock.

Nuclear is the only way to go. See documentary 'Pandora's Promise' - excellent info - new age of failsafe nuclear reactors fueled from existing spent nuclear waste is here. Look for a prolonged 'boom time' for the nuclear industry in this country. Get your children prepared for it.

 

[carpro]

Prove it.:type:

I can go just a couple of miles and take a video in real time. Will that do?

They turn unbelievably slow, even in windy West Texas. They have governors on them that prevent them from freewheeling too fast.

The image the story presents is one of a propeller turning fast and chewing up unaware birds. The real image is one of a bird committing suicide to run into one of the blades. They don't turn fast enough to hit the bird. The bird, instead, has to almost take aim to hit one.

The other piece of information left out is that thousands more eagles are electrocuted by power lines each year. The great eagle slaughter by wind turbines is certainly overblown.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Windmills are a crock.

Nuclear is the only way to go. See documentary 'Pandora's Promise' - excellent info - new age of failsafe nuclear reactors fueled from existing spent nuclear waste is here. Look for a prolonged 'boom time' for the nuclear industry in this country. Get your children prepared for it.

Would you live near one?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I can go just a couple of miles and take a video in real time. Will that do?

They turn unbelievably slow, even in windy West Texas. They have governors on them that prevent them from freewheeling too fast.

I don't know bout Tx but in Pa windmill fields there are dead birds.

 

[kyredneck]

Would you live near one?

Yes.

Watch the documentary first chance you get, it's an eye opener.

 

[carpro]

Why the story is overblown:


Collisions with wind turbines account for about one-tenth of a percent of all "unnatural" bird deaths in the United States each year. And of all bird deaths, 30 percent are due to natural causes, like baby birds falling from nests [source: AWEA]. So why the widespread misconception that labels wind turbines "bird-o-matics"? I*t all starts with California, raptors and the thousands of old turbines that make up the Altamont Pass wind farm.


http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds1.htm

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Yes.

Watch the documentary first chance you get, it's an eye opener.

I don't have to watch anything.....I got friends who are in that industry

 

[preachinjesus]

The problem with nuclear is that when something goes wrong you can't live in that area for a couple thousand years.

When a windmill goes wrong, you just replace it.

As for the OP, the reports are overblown. Though I am largely in favor of positioning windmills off-shore, we don't see these same kinds of concerns in Europe where they are used in abundance. Birds learn and change their patterns. Its part of evolution.

 

[kyredneck]

Which is not the case in reality, the lessons learned from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima are covered.

The documentary is produced by prominent ex-antinuclear environmentalists now turned pro-nuclear environmentalists. Watch the documentary if the chance arises, you'll see why the switch from anti to pro among environmentalists is catching on in a big way.

Nuclear is really the ONLY way to go.

[add]

These new 4th generation breeder reactors are basically failsafe, that is actually demonstrated in the documentary, AND, AND, they burn/run on existing nuclear waste (think about that). France is waaaaay ahead of everyone in this area already, 80% of her electicity is generated from nuclear power.

The anti-nuclear crowd has yet to come around to the current reality of nuclear power, but they will. Just takes time. That's why I say it would be good parenting to prepare your children for the inevitable boom time just over the horizon (I don't get optimistic about too many things, but I do with this one).

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Prove it.:type:

Climate Crocks: Wind Turbines Hardly Rank as Bird Threat http://climatecrocks.com/2014/04/24/wind-turbines-hardly-rank-as-bird-threat/http://climatecrocks.com/2014/04/24/wind-turbines-hardly-rank-as-bird-threat/

Pity the birds.

As if cats weren’t bad enough, humans have invented all sorts of torture devices for our winged friends. We’ve paved over their nesting sites to make room for Olive Gardens and have broken up their skyscapes with glass buildings and radio towers.

Then came the most infamous bird killer of all: the wind turbine. As you can see in the chart below, these sky blenders top the list.

... of things not dangerous to birds, I'm guessing.

From the graph, it looks like we should ban buildings, windows, power lines, cats, cars and trucks, pesticides and cell phone towers, and leave the windmills alone.

Carpro and KRN are correct. It's a crock.

 

[kyredneck]

(heheh, actually it's the WINDMILLS that KRN says are a crock..... it's an absolute impossibility they will ever replace fossil fuel electricity, nuclear will easily and then some)

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

(heheh, actually it's the WINDMILLS that KRN says are a crock..... it's an absolute impossibility they will ever replace fossil fuel electricity, nuclear will easily)

Guess my comment was vague, but it was meant to be all-inclusive of windmills, their purpose, their effectiveness, their utter failure as bird-danger ... :laugh:

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

... of things not dangerous to birds, I'm guessing.

From the graph, it looks like we should ban buildings, windows, power lines, cats, cars and trucks, pesticides and cell phone towers, and leave the windmills alone.

Carpro and KRN are correct. It's a crock.

You know of course, you are giving Padre Durant a license to shoot any and all cats on site! :laugh:

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

You know of course, you are giving Padre Durant a license to shoot any and all cats on site! :laugh:

I thought of that. He doesn't know where I live, and if he finds out, my 24-pound muscle-bound tomcat and his buddy, the 67-pound lab/shepherd mix, will straighten him out. :laugh:

 

[padredurand]

You know of course, you are giving Padre Durant a license to shoot any and all cats on site! :laugh:

I'm trying to figure out how to sling a cat into one of those propellers. :thumbsup:

I about to puke over these environmentalists. We can't use coal or oil because it makes the air dirty. Some rocket scientist invents a solar farm to produce electricity and a guy wearing hemp sandals whines that the snot-eating rasp-tail snort is getting flash fried when they fly over. Oops.

Let's try windmills like the Dutch have used for hundreds of years. Nope.

Don't get me wrong. Eagles are majestic but they are, apparently, dumber than a bag of hammers. How is it they can spot a mouse in an overgrown hayfield from 1500 feet up but they can't see the stupid windmill? Hello! I can see about a hundred of those things (windmills not eagles) on my trip home from work. Ten miles away and I can see the props spinning but old eagle eye flies right into it? Splat!

Got time for a yarn? There's a woman down the road from hunting camp that's a card carrying, tree hugging, anti-everything up to and including frequent baths. Last year she bounced a deer off the hood of her Prius. You'd think she would've been all teary-eyed about whacking Bambi. Nope. She started writing letters (on recycled paper of course) to the DOT, DEC, and a million other lettered groups demanding they control their wild animals and keep them out of the roadway. I told her I was doing the best I could but I can only shoot so many deer. That didn't seem to help assuage her grief either.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I'm trying to figure out how to sling a cat into one of those propellers. :thumbsup:

I about to puke over these environmentalists. We can't use coal or oil because it makes the air dirty. Some rocket scientist invents a solar farm to produce electricity and a guy wearing hemp sandals whines that the snot-eating rasp-tail snort is getting flash fried when they fly over. Oops.

Let's try windmills like the Dutch have used for hundreds of years. Nope.

Don't get me wrong. Eagles are majestic but they are, apparently, dumber than a bag of hammers. How is it they can spot a mouse in an overgrown hayfield from 1500 feet up but they can't see the stupid windmill? Hello! I can see about a hundred of those things (windmills not eagles) on my trip home from work. Ten miles away and I can see the props spinning but old eagle eye flies right into it? Splat!

Got time for a yarn? There's a woman down the road from hunting camp that's a card carrying, tree hugging, anti-everything up to and including frequent baths. Last year she bounced a deer off the hood of her Prius. You'd think she would've been all teary-eyed about whacking Bambi. Nope. She started writing letters (on recycled paper of course) to the DOT, DEC, and a million other lettered groups demanding they control their wild animals and keep them out of the roadway. I told her I was doing the best I could but I can only shoot so many deer. That didn't seem to help assuage her grief either.

Tell me about it...both sides of the family are all coal crackers. We got more of that stuff than any place on the planet ...you know....BUT!!! :BangHead:

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

I told her I was doing the best I could but I can only shoot so many deer. That didn't seem to help assuage her grief either.

Next thing she'll be doing is suing you for the heart attack she had from the fit of apoplexy that undoubtedly set in.