Wind Energy Follow-up

Innovative designs, based on nature, may make wind energy even more environmentall-friendly to wildlife as discussed in this article from Discovery News.

Wind Energy May Not Be As Bad for Birds; Bats on the Other Hand...

State study details turbine bat and bird deaths

The Associated Press
Updated: 06/29/2011 05:27:39 PM EDT

PITTSBURGH—Wind turbines in Pennsylvania kill an estimated 10,500 bats and 1,680 birds each year, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
That's an average of 25 bats and four birds at each of the state's 420 turbines.

The Daily American of Somerset reported that approximately 30 participating developers agreed to conduct one year of pre-construction and two years of post-construction monitoring of birds and bats at each site using Game Commission data-collection and study guidelines.

The report found no eagle deaths and three endangered bird deaths. The birds (all found in September 2009) included two blackpoll warblers and one yellow-bellied flycatcher. All three were considered to be migrants. Two endangered Seminole bats carcasses were also found during the study, and were also believed to be migrating.

State wildlife biologists aren't sure how the deaths will impact the long-term health of bat and bird populations.

"We don't really have a good population estimate on bats, so 25 bats per turbine per year seems like a lot, and if you do the math with all of the turbines we have—and how many are proposed—it's a huge number," said Tracey Librandi Mumma, a supervisory wildlife biologist for the commission. "But whether that number will impact the population is something we're wrestling with right now."

Experts said the impacts could vary greatly by species.

With some endangered species the loss of a single bird could be detrimental, while with common species the loss of several hundred birds wouldn't have a major impact, Paul Fischbeck, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, said Wednesday.

Michael Gannon, a professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University of Altoona and a recognized bat expert, had reservations about the report.

"One of my chief concerns is that they're keeping their (raw) data very secret. Does the data support their conclusions? If you can't review something it's not science," Gannon told the Daily American.

The report noted that some wind sites in Pennsylvania were not part of the cooperative study. Florida Light & Power Energy's subsidiary, NextEra Energy Resources, has five active projects and is the largest non-cooperating developer.

The report said that 31 of the 86 projects have a high risk of bat mortality, and 15 have a high risk of bird mortality. The Nature Conservancy estimates that between 750 and 2,900 additional wind turbines may be built in Pennsylvania by 2030.

Fischbeck added that just focusing on deaths caused by wind turbines doesn't tell the whole story. Another recent scientific study found that cats caused more deaths in a suburban area than any other predator.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated that about 550 million birds are killed each year in collisions with buildings, 130 million in collisions with power lines, 100 million by cats, 80 million by cars, and 67 million by pesticides. Wind turbines kill about 28,500, or far less than 1 percent, the report said.

Scientists look for surviving Eskimo curlew birds
By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:34pm EDT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Federal scientists are on the lookout for the Eskimo curlew, as they work to determine if the elusive shorebird last seen two decades ago still exists.

The said it is seeking any information about the Eskimo curlew, a tundra-nesting bird once abundant over the skies of North and South America, which was nearly hunted into oblivion by the mid-20th century.

The agency, which made its announcement in the Federal Register on Wednesday, will review whether the bird should continue to be classified as endangered or formally designated as extinct.

The last sighting confirmed by the Fish and Wildlife Service was in Nebraska in 1987, said Bruce Woods, a spokesman for the agency.

An unconfirmed sighting -- of an adult and a chick -- was recorded in 1983 in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Woods said.

The Eskimo curlew population once numbered hundreds of thousands, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It is the smallest of four species of Western Hemisphere curlews, and is known for its long migration route from Arctic tundra breeding grounds to wintering lands in South America.

But the birds died off in drastic numbers due to overhunting, the loss of prairie habitat that was converted from grasslands to agriculture and the extinction of a type of grasshopper that made up much of their diet.

Most were gone by the beginning of the 20th century, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Despite its scarcity, the Eskimo curlew is well-known to bird lovers.

It was the subject of a classic short novel, "Last of the Curlews," that chronicled the life of a lonely Eskimo curlew waiting on the tundra for a mate and, finding none, flying solo on the long fall migration. The 1954 book was adapted into a children's movie in 1972.

The wildlife inquiry, to be conducted by the service's Alaska scientists, is the first such formal review of the Eskimo curlew under the Endangered Species Act, Woods said. The bird was listed as endangered prior to passage of the act. such reviews are typically completed within 12 months.

Brendan Cummings, senior attorney with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, said he hopes the bird continues to be listed as endangered and not written off as extinct.

Continued listing will cost little and could help protect far-north habitat home to other birds and wildlife, he said.

"While I have my doubts, I think it would be premature to close the coffin lid on the species," Cummings said.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Greg McCune)

Photo: Eskimo Curlew specimen, Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, photo by Casey Tucker/Wild Auk Photography.