The trouble with turbines: An ill wind

Nature has had article subtitled, "With turbines threatening some bird and bat populations, researchers are seeking ways to keep the skies safe for wildlife."   I noted the graphic informing building strikes kill maybe one billion birds annually ... maybe 100,000.

It also notes IWT supporter Iberdola saying “We have terabytes' worth of data..." and researchers responding they'd love to see it.

The trouble with turbines: An ill wind : Nature News & Comment:

Source: A Manville, US Fish and Wildlife Service

...the concern is that turbines threaten species that are already struggling, such as bats, which in North America have been hit hard by white-nose fungus. Another vulnerable group is raptors, which are slow to reproduce and favour the wind corridors that energy companies covet. “There are species of birds that are getting killed by wind turbines that do not get killed by autos, windows or buildings,” says Shawn Smallwood, an ecologist who has worked extensively in Altamont Pass, California, notorious for its expansive wind farms and raptor deaths. Smallwood has found that Altamont blades slay an average of 65 golden eagles a year.  “We could lose eagles in this country if we keep on doing this,” he says.

Other species at risk include the critically endangered California condors (Gymnogyps californicus) — which number only 226 in the wild — and the few hundred remaining whooping cranes (Grus americanus), concentrated in the central United States. Biologists can't say whether the increase in wind farms will cause the collapse of these or other bird species, which already face many threats. But waiting for an answer is not an option, says Smallwood. “By the time we do understand the population-level impacts, we might be in a place we don't want to be.”

The entire article can be read at the Nature website