Hi Birders,
I read that article too, but I didn’t take any solace form the comparison with other anthropogenic causes of bird mortality. Half a million birds per year in the US alone is still a huge death toll. Wind turbine impacts are not a simple numbers game either- large species like raptors and migrant geese are particularly at risk from these installations if they are poorly sited. Personally I am more concerned about their impacts on bats- I’ve heard of cases where bat mortality outnumbers birds 10 to one. For a little background read this: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14593-wind-turbines-make-bat-lungs-explode.html I’ll take a minute to point out that I am in no way suggesting wind turbines are automatically evil: clearly they have a place but as they have a demonstrable serious impact on wildlife we should not let our judgement be clouded by feelings of guilt over climate change.
Its a bit heretical to say any of the above in the current climate (gettit?) but ‘no carbon’ doesn’t mean ‘no impact’…
Mark Carter ===============================
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