Dozens of birdwatchers who traveled to a Scottish island to see an extremely fast and rare swift have been left distraught after it was killed by a wind turbine.
While not an endangered species, sightings of the White-throated Needletail are quite rare in the UK, since it’s primary breeding and migratory grounds are in the far east and India. So when one was spotted on the the Isles of Harris it caused quite an interest with birdwatchers who flocked to the island to see it.
Wikipedia says: The White-throated Needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus), also known as Needle-tailed Swift or Spine-tailed Swift, is a large swift. It is the fastest-flying bird in flapping flight, with a confirmed maximum of 111.6 km/h (69.3 mph). It is commonly reputed to reach velocities of up to 170 km/h (105 mph), though this has not been verified.
Video follows.
Despite its purported speed, it wasn’t fast enough to avoid the turbine blades.
There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, bird watchers were understandably excited. A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia. But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed.
This video was taken after the bird was killed by the wind turbine, and it seems there is no video of the actual collision with the wind turbine, though there are several reports in the British MSM about the event. Of course if it had been an oil derrick or a power plant smokestack that caused the death, you can bet every environmental organization would be having a collective cow. But, it was killed by green energy, so the death gets a pass.
Here is the bird in the area before it ventured into the wind turbine area. It certainly is fast.
h/t to Charles the Moderator
TinyCO2 says: June 28, 2013 at 9:21 am Do they have a fatal, moth like attraction to spinning blades? Or are large numbers of common birds going unrecorded?
There is a large low pressure area, a relative vacuum if you will, down wind from the obstruction of the spinning blades. Additionally, it varies significantly in magnitude and direction causing barotrauma.
Yes, I believe that the magnitude of bird kills at windmills is not reported.
Do they include birds killed by neodymium mining pollution?
“And this Thing I saw! How can I describe it? A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding over the young pine trees, and smashing them aside in its career; a walking engine of glittering metal, striding now across the heather; articulate ropes of steel dangling from it, and the clattering tumult of its passage mingling with the riot of the thunder. A flash, and it came out vividly, heeling over one way with two feet in the air, to vanish and reappear almost instantly as it seemed, with the next flash, a hundred yards nearer. Can you imagine a milking stool tilted and bowled violently along the ground? That was the impression those instant flashes gave. But instead of a milking stool imagine it a great body of machinery on a tripod stand… Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles (one of which gripped a young pine tree) swinging and rattling about its strange body.” — The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells, 1898)
Too bad they don’t have these flying skills:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5931521/Photograph-swallow-flies-through-two-inch-gap-at-35-miles-per-hour.html
I love watching these acrobatically swoop and maneuver over open fields for insects and they will come within 3 -4 ft of me when mowing to catch insects that the mower scares up.
Let us put the statement by an ‘RSPB spokeswoman’ into context.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-23082846 Paraphrasing and then quoting:- An RSPB spokeswoman reportedly said that while she regretted the incident, “..Wind energy makes a vital contribution towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, which is the biggest threat to our native birds and wildlife”
Figures from the National Grid state that all of the wind farms in the UK in 2011 ‘saved’ about 7.3 million tons of CO2. Annual world emissions are about 34 billion tons of CO2. So world emissions were reduced by about 1 : 5000th. So this amount is a ’vital contribution’?! What nonsense.
(Note: I am not the ‘Thomas’ posting on this same thread)
May I just put in a different point of view?
From a search on google, I found 2 small wind turbines with a rating of 5 kw each. This is not a huge wind farm. This is a small installation providing power to a village (Tarbet population 500), the main settlement on the remote island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, off the NW of Scotland. I would guess that the installation is fully justified, indeed, the approval information is available on the internet. The alternative may well be diesel generation with the fuel coming from the mainland.
Clearly, the loss of a rare bird is sad and maybe it gives a snapshot of what the effect will be of large on- and off-shore windfarms. Unlike the vast wind farms, this is a miniature power plant helping a remote area of Scotland. For some background, see a smaller island in the Inner Hebrides:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/alastair-good/10029757/Wind-brings-24hr-power-to-remote-Scottish-island.html
Thomas says:
June 28, 2013 at 9:36 am
“If you don’t like Motherjones there are plenty of different sources you can find, and even if they all give surprisingly different numbers the general conclusion that wind turbines are a minor killer is clear.”
They all give surprisingly different numbers… maybe each one of them looks for the numbers in his own behind?
If a bird gets chopped on a remote Scottish hillside, but nobody sees or hears it, does it count as a statistic?
What is the sound of one wing flapping?
Article in The Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10146135/Birdwatchers-see-rare-swift-killed-by-wind-turbine.html
Reaction from Delingpole:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100223770/this-bird-rare-enough-for-you-greenies/
Another Delingpole column about “bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes” with photos:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100222239/why-do-i-call-them-bat-chomping-bird-slicing-eco-crucifixes/
Alan Bates June 28 2013 11:39 am:
Alan, the link you provided tells us of a windfarm being installed on an island with just a few people on it. The National Lottery fund has paid for the installation to the tune of £978,890. You can buy a hell of a lot of diesel for that! Almost a million! In fact you could invest the money and get an income of about thirty grand a year. That would buy you forty gallons of untaxed (Red) diesel every day of the year. That should be enough, I’d have thought.
Alan Bates says:
June 28, 2013 at 11:39 am
May I just put in a different point of view?
May I also?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/hydro_electricenergy/7858960/Power-rationed-on-green-island-Eigg-after-mild-weather-causes-drought.html
But when the inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Eigg put their faith in the wind and rain to provide all their electricity they did not reckon for one thing – mild weather.
DirkH says:
June 28, 2013 at 9:16 am
Which brings us to the question: What climate change have they mitigated over the last 17 years during which there was none?
Well don’t you see that it isn’t warming since 17 years? That is only due to the windmills, of course, what other proof do you need? You cannot imagine how hot it would be without those.
Actually…
http://suyts.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/lol-wind-farms-causing-global-warming/
Thomas says:
June 28, 2013 at 9:36 am
BTW, can you give an example of “every environmental organization having a collective cow” over the death of an individual bird of a not acutely threatened species killed by an oil derrick
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2009/08/21/how-much-is-a-birds-life-worth-part-1/
And this for an industry that is totally useless and damaging:
http://www.countryguardian.net/halkema-windenergyfactfiction.pdf
Scarface says:
June 28, 2013 at 9:29 am
Scarface you have come up with a winner! From now on I’m going to refer to the extreme environmental movement as Khmer Vert. From the Wikipedia article on the Khmer Rouge:
Eerie how the same bad pennies keep turning up.
Thomas says:
June 28, 2013 at 8:59 am
“…it’s an insignificant number compared to birds killed by other human enterprises…”
But, the windmills preferentially kill rare and endangered birds which do not reproduce quickly. If a species reproduces faster than it is killed, it survives. If not, it becomes extinct.
TinyCO2 says:
June 28, 2013 at 9:21 am
“What, are rare birds more stupid that common ones?”
Birds of prey or carrion fowl tend to loiter in the air, scouting for food. To do so without expending too much energy, they seek out areas where they can essentially surf the updrafts.
Such areas also happen to be ideal for windmills.
Are “environmental impact studies” required in the UK?
Such studies, if required, might be a good target for FOIA request.
Mike M says (June 28, 2013 at 9:13 am): “But Shana! These birds knew the turbines were there and they knew the risk they were taking!”
Shirley you can’t be serious! 🙂
Pauls says:
June 28, 2013 at 8:20 am
…..Environmentalist bashing for the sake of it, as if its black and white, leftwing,rightwing, only serves to further divide, without adding anything positive to the debate.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There are many of us here who are conservationists and like me were one time members of Greenpeace, WWF and Serra Club. We have major problems with those who claim to be ‘Environmentalists’ as a cover for pushing a totalitarian agenda, (although many are not even aware that’s what they are doing.)
That is what the ‘Environmentalist bashing’ is about. We are not bashing conservationists but those wearing the sheepskin of an environmentalist over the heart of a greedy wolf.
Thomas says:
June 28, 2013 at 8:59 am
…..Of course if it had been killed by a car or cat or by flying into a window you can bet WUWT wouldn’t have been writing about it. Yes, windmills kills birds and you need to consider that in deciding where to put them and how to design them, but overall it’s an insignificant number compared to birds killed by other human enterprises……
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And as usual the point is completely missed.
The birds that are on the rare or endangered lists are generally hawks and eagles and vultures. These are the birds that use thermals like gliders do. The best place to put a windmill is in the exact same air space used by these endangered birds since BOTH are looking for high sustained winds.
Dr. Bob says: @ur momisugly June 28, 2013 at 9:27 am
….why is it that power plants and oil refineries are fined $250,000 per bird killed and the US Dept of Interior issues permits for wind farms to kill endangered species. Equal treatment under the law is a doctrine that should be applied. It would bankrupt wind farms in days.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What it means is the USA is no longer under the Rule of Law but has reverted to the Rule of Man where you can be sentenced to death just for appearing in the King’s dreams.
========================================================
“Killed by a windmill! What is it?”
“It’s a big, wind powered thing that crushes things. But that’s not important right now ….”
Thomas says:
It’s not as if they get a free hand in killing either, for every eagle killed they have to pay for conservation efforts to ensure another one can be raised.
So you can get “bird offsets”? How’s the market trading for those?
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Of course, you’ll need a backup plan when the wind isn’t blowing, so we at Ronco have negotiated cut rate power from the utilities for you, in exchange for them being able to call themselves “green” just for having your Wind Turbine connected to their grid!
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There is a theory that the number of bird kills is under-reported as the carrion birds and rats remove the dead bodies. But do wind turbines also kill bats? In the UK it is a £ 2,500.00 fine per bat killed. Admittedly wind farm sites are not natural bat terriotory,bats prefer low level tree lined areas, but believe me in the UK there is nothing more criminal than killing a bat. ( Apart from the flying natterjack toads( which takes us into the Monty Python scheme of things))
P.S. Hi Prism, GCHQ and NSA. Sorry if this is boring you but do have a lovely weekend
What is the probability there is rare bird like the White-throated Needletail seen on a Scottish Island?
This probability is extremely small.
And what is the probability this one rare bird will be killed by a wind turbine?
This probability is also extremely small.
So the overall probability of this event happening is extremely extremely small.
What does this tell me?
I say, the probability of this wind turbine killing a lot of local birds is extremely extremely high. Because this turbine made an extremely extremely rare event happen nevertheless. Do your calculations for the common local birds.
This is the chilling thought for me left over after this story.