WIND FARMS AND RED KITES - Climategate Klimaat€¦ · The red kite is under threat in a number of...

WIND FARMS

The causes include poisoning, closures of garbage dumps and feeding stations, shortages of live prey, electrocution, shooting, predation of the broods (e.g. by introduced species like racoons), etc.

The red kite is under threat in a number of European countries

And here is a new one

N O T

A F R A I D

BLADES CAN TRAVEL AT 300 KMH AT THE TIP

HALF A WING CHOPPED…

SLICED DOWN THE MIDDLE…

Griffon Vulture :

SMASHED

VULTURE MORTALITY IN SPAIN :

- Lekuona report, 2001 368 turbines ! 409 griffon vultures - North of Soria : 200 griffon vult. - North of Castellón : 273 wind turbines ! 177 griffon vultures - one windfarm in Western Navarre ! over 100 griffon vultures -Tarifa ! dozens of griffon vultures (and 6 egyptian vultures) No cumulative study… 1,000-2,000 griffon vultures a year

Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium

GERMANY : 126 RED KITE CARCASSES

FOUND UNDER WIND TURBINES

( 116 as at July 27, 2009

as per next chart )

BIRD MORTALITY STATISTICS AT WINDFARMS IN GERMANY

116. Red kites 15 Black kites 122 Buzzards 35 Kestrels 40 White-tailed eagles

IT IS THE TIP

OF THE ICEBERG

ANNUALLY, 200-300 RED KITES ARE KILLED BY WIND TURBINES IN GERMANY

( as estimated by Ubbo Mammen, speaker at the Symposium )

SPAIN : SOME RED KITES REPORTED KILLED

SHODDY MONITORING

REMOVAL OF CARCASSES

OPACITY

TAMPERING WITH DATA

UK : TWO RED KITES KILLED IN WALES, ONE IN SCOTLAND

VERY LITTLE MONITORING

BIASED STUDIES

COVERING UP MORTALITY

FRANCE : TWO RED KITES CARCASSES FOUND

LITTLE MONITORING IF ANY

ITALY

Stefano Allavena, president of ALTURA Association for the Protection of Birds of Prey and of their Habitats, Rome

Read emails from Mr Allavena : URL in next frame !

LINK TO THE 3 EMAILS FROM MR ALLAVENA : www.iberica2000.org/documents/eolica/bird_mortality/RED_KITE_MORTALITY_ITALY

In all likelihood, their disappearance is due to death by collision, for there is no evidence that red kites are afraid of windfarms. Besides, open-space raptors are often seen flying close to wind turbines (Dr Lekuona 2001, Dr. Smallwood 2004)

There are only 310-400 breeding pairs of Red Kites in Italy. ALTURA warn that 15,000 wind turbines in their country would be a major factor in the extirpation of the Red Kite, the Egyptian Vulture, and the Bonelli’s Eagle.

THE WIND INDUSTRY PLANS TO ERECT 3,750,000 WIND TURBINES WORLDWIDE

25 birds/turbine/year + 200 birds/km/new High Tension lines = 250 million birds/year

Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium

Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium

WILL MITIGATION HELP?

THE ALTAMONT EXPERIENCE - Moving the turbines - Repowering - Land management - Stopping the turbines part time

Mostly unsuccessful

IT HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED THAT RAPTORS FLY CLOSER TO WIND TURBINES THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED BY CHANCE ( Thelander et al. 2003 )

The recently-moved topsoil around wind turbines attracts burrow-dwelling rodents that attract raptors.

The latest report from California found another important reason :

DECLIVITY WINDS

Raptors and windfarms use slopes and ridges exposed to the prevailing winds

Raptors and windfarms are therefore…. on a collision course

And the raptors are losing

White-tailed eagle

Norway

Decline of the rare Egyptian vulture: new study, Estación Biológica de Doñana: biggest drop in nest sites where windfarms have been built

The new census of the Egyptian vulture population is what led to this finding. Martina Carrete believes that similar conclusions may be drawn about other raptor species when their populations are next censed.

For 6 years, I have myself been trying to warn bird societies that this was bound to occur. Earlier this year, Spanish Birdlife (SEO) responded by an apparent change in policy. Let’s hope other bird societies will respond before it is too late.

LATEST REPORT FROM ALTAMONT PASS WINDFARM, CALIFORNIA (Dr Smallwood et al. 2009) reveals that mortality at windfarms has been underestimated.

62 tubular-tower wind turbines totalling 22 MW killed by collision 115 raptors per annum - highest raptor/turbine mortality in the world. Dr Smallwood et al. 2009

UNDERESTIMATION, WHY ?

- The swamping bias - The no-find bias - The search frequency bias - The crippling bias (previous picture)

- The radius bias - The outsider bias (Dr Smallwood et al. 2009)

CONCLUSION :

Unless a minimum setback of 3 km is respected between wind turbines and red kites’ nests and roosting places, the red kite could be headed for extinction.

Mark Duchamp

Environmentalist

Director, Iberica 2000

President, Save the Eagles International