Ecotretas writes in with this sad video.
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First time I’ve seen an image of a big bird going down due to wind energy:
The important part is at 1:57 This occurred in Creta.
The effort to save the bird is notorious! Please check it out at:
and
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This video made me wonder why the vulture was hanging around these wind power turbines. Perhaps there were other birds felled by the turbines on the ground and the vulture just did what they do normally: circle and wait.
On 2008 SEO BirdLife was commissioned by the Spanish Government to set the guidelines for the installation of new windmill parks.
(see http://www.seo.org/media/docs/MANUAL%20PARQUES%20E%C3%93LICOS%20para%20web.pdf)
Spain as it is located between Atlantic and Mediterranean seas has a very favorable wind conditions, having at the time of the study, 670 wind parks and a total of 16.000 big windmills. The authors estimate the number of bird deaths due to impacts against the rotor blades, in the range of 19.000- 1.000.000 birds per year.
The study has not had any publicity at all. The main media simply ignored it. There was no interest at all to open a debate with Greenpeace and other eco- supporters of this bird killing technology, it seemed that the only interest of SEO BirdLife was to get the money from the Government and run. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen in case nuclear or coal plants would kill so many birds.
The vulture was trying to catch a thermal updraft off the hill. They do this to gain altitude quickly without burning a lot of energy flapping their wings, kind of like riding an elevator. Vultures, eagles, cranes, and most large birds do it all the time.
Thermals happen because of uneven heating of the hills and ground by the sun. Glider pilots and hang gliders even watch for birds doing this so they can use the thermals too.
Note the parts about thermals and ridge lift:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_gliding
Expect many more dead birds, especially large birds, anywhere these monstrosities are located on hills.
Jerker Andersson (13:45:38) :
Scepticism is fine but it has to be born out of at least some knowledge of the subject. It would be very difficult to fake this scenario in the way you described. The blade hits the bird’s wing and it nearly splits it in two but leaves the bird alive. A gunshot would have hit the bird’s body and killed it.
Things to note: there is no obvious blood. The bird is still alive. Its wing is obviously broken when it tries to move. A gunshot wouldn’t produce these effects. It’s pretty obvious that what you’re seeing is just an optical illusion.
Al Gore’s Holy Hologram (13:12:45) :
Birds are also attracted to stall structures because they generate updrafts and vortices that the birds can use to climb to a higher altitude. Wind turbines are usually placed where they can catch the winds that produce these same updrafts, with inevitable consequences for the large birds that use them. They also produce their own vortices that birds might use, though I’m less sure of that one.
I would suggest that the bird was circling in a thermal, which happen to form at the top of ridgelines. This is where they also put the windmill. At the beginning of the video is a shot from a paraglider, which would be there for the same reason.
So actually, a little bit of thought could prevent these types of incidents by not locating windmills on prime thermal soaring sites.
@ur momisugly keith in hastings UK (13:30:36) :
“I guess hydrogen production then fuel cell use might be the future answer?”
AFAIK, it still takes more energy to produce hydrogen than we get back from it using it as a fuel.
Certainly something that WWF and Audubon need to discuss openly. Compared to DDT damage to bird eggs – how do these wind mills fare??
Miguel (14:01:46) :
The authors estimate the number of bird deaths due to impacts against the rotor blades, in the range of 19.000- 1.000.000 birds per year.
One million birds a year? A MILLION? Good grief! I thought you might have made a typo so I went and checked – and there it is. Up to a million per year, just in Spain. This is an absolute travesty!
Vultures would be very attracted to windmills. The reason is food; they are scavangers, and windmills kill birds and bats. So, they are a food source, luring the birds to a deadly danger.
IMHO, the large predatory birds (and most of those, including eagles, are scavangers as well as predators) my take the biggest impact from windmills. Soaring birds especially.
But, these made-in China non-exportable green job providing windmills are popping up everywhere. The simple fact is that they aren’t cost effective for most applications, and couldn’t survive without healthy doses of our money via subsidies. Give me nukes, any day, plus real onshore and offshore drilling, nationwide.
Well, look, we see animals (badger, fox, pheasant, deer, hedgehog) as roadkill every day but nobody says we should ban cars.
Makes you wonder if the turbines should be fitted with mesh guards like the table top fans in our office!
Sorry, I’m a global warming sceptic, but this mindless wind turbine bashing reminds me too much of the Luddites. Could someone please name me one 100% risk-free technology?
This is akin to Edison electrocuting dogs to show how bad AC power is. I’m sure the windmill people will work something out to keep stupid birds from flying into their equipment.
Also, this video has my vote for fake, as well.
The blades on those things don’t always move so slow, either. So I imagine this could happen to quite a few birds much faster and easier than in the video, especially if there was a whole flock.
@Jerker Andersson (13:45:38) :
Yes, it does jump but that doesn’t seem to affect anything. The bird looks fine up to and just before the strike. It wouldn’t still be fly/gliding about like that if it had been shot.
Not only are they a scar on the natural landscape,
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/environment/assets/energy_windmills_california.jpg
… they don’t actually produce much electricity and they kill the natural wildlife.
I don’t see where the positive benefit for the environment is here (they just make some people feel better by pretending there is a positive effect on the environment).
@veronica (14:24:21):
That’s a very good point you raise, but for all that it is a good argument, cars, quite unlike these windmills, are not promoted as “good for the environment”. But I’ll keep that in mind (among the other reasons) the next time I criticize a Prius.
Andy Scrase: Thanks for your sane response which makes complete sense.
A classic case of human development competing for natural resources used by wildlife.
Ah yes, the hypocrisy of the environmentalist exposed.
For a conservationist, windmills are a horror story; they are killing machines. Forget these brutal monsters and build regular, CO2 emitting facilities. They’re good for the environment by releasing vital CO2 for use by plant life, don’t result in wholesale slaughter of birds, and are a reliable source of electricity for mankind. As for real pollution, most businessmen are focused on the bottom line; pollution indicates that the fuel is being poorly used, which impacts the revenue stream.
Growing up in Ohio I did plenty of bird hunting, mostly pheasant and duck. I don’t think that bird was shot.
The range was too far. Those blades are long, and they’re on top of a high pillar. Also, you can hear the wind, but no gunshot.
But the most convincing evidence is the video itself. Here’s a 30-second clip showing the bird getting whacked. How could someone time a shot to hit at that exact instant?
click
Johan (14:28:46) :
Sorry, I’m a global warming sceptic, but this mindless wind turbine bashing reminds me too much of the Luddites. Could someone please name me one 100% risk-free technology?
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The bashing is due to the inefficiency of the technology, not the risk. Wind power would not exist, without the subsidies (taxes) that make it profitable.
If this goes on, vultures will evolve into a new species that avoids windmills, Aegypius molitemerans.
GE and others make billions out of these ugly, expensive damn things by supporting and fostering the AGW scam.
No doubt they regard killing wildlife as collateral damage.
Vulchamatic.
It’s a shame we lost Billy Mays.
The Ecotretas blog also refers a link to an explanation here: http://www.epaw.org/multimedia.php?lang=en&article=b2
Ron (11:44:11) :
“A year ago my colleague and I did an analysis of popular climate blogs based on Google ‘page rank’. The page rank goes from 0 to 10. The higher the rank the more enquiries Google is likely to send to that site.”
Ron I hate to disappoint you but your knowledge of how a site actually get inquires via Google was divorced many years ago from being based upon PR (Pigeon Rank http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html ) as a high weight in determining the SERPs (search engine result placements) for any given search fragment.
You should read all of Google’s patents dealing with ranking and spend some time learning about what that means.
A visit to Matt Cutts (aka Senior member GoogleGuy on Web Master World http://www.webmasterworld.com) blog ( http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ ) may also be of some benefit.
As far as PR (page rank) is concerned it is a mathematical construct. These days it only appears to be used as the last determinate to place equally ranked results.
Some time spent on learning about the long tail and semantic views would also serve you well if you ever get serious about search engine placement.
Benjamin (14:37:47) : “@veronica (14:24:21): That’s a very good point you raise, but for all that it is a good argument, cars, quite unlike these windmills, are not promoted as “good for the environment”. But I’ll keep that in mind (among the other reasons) the next time I criticize a Prius.”
Euripides said it best:
Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius.
“Whom the gods would destroy, goes nuts for a Prius.”
Anybody know anything about this type of thing?:
http://www.imrex.com.sg/Products/197/150/Bird_Control_Radar.aspx
http://www.birdbusters.com/airport_bird_scare_1.html