1 / 48

Wind Farms and Red Kites

Wind Farms and Red Kites. The red kite is under threat in a number of European countries.

sbonneau
Download Presentation

Wind Farms and Red Kites

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Wind Farms and Red Kites www.assignmentpoint.com

  2. www.assignmentpoint.com

  3. The red kite is under threat in a number of European countries 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. www.assignmentpoint.com

  4. And here is a new one www.assignmentpoint.com

  5. www.assignmentpoint.com

  6. N O T A F R A I D www.assignmentpoint.com

  7. BLADES CAN TRAVEL AT 300 KMH AT THE TIP www.assignmentpoint.com

  8. HALF A WING CHOPPED… www.assignmentpoint.com

  9. SLICED DOWN THE MIDDLE… www.assignmentpoint.com

  10. Griffon Vulture : SMASHED www.assignmentpoint.com

  11. www.assignmentpoint.com

  12. 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 www.assignmentpoint.com

  13. Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium www.assignmentpoint.com

  14. BIRD MORTALITY STATISTICS AT WINDFARMS IN GERMANY • Red kites 15 Black kites • 122 Buzzards 35 Kestrels 40 White-tailed eagles www.assignmentpoint.com

  15. IT IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG www.assignmentpoint.com

  16. ANNUALLY, 200-300 RED KITES ARE KILLED BY WIND TURBINES IN GERMANY ( as estimated by Ubbo Mammen, speaker at the Symposium ) www.assignmentpoint.com

  17. SPAIN : SOME RED KITES REPORTED KILLED SHODDY MONITORING REMOVAL OF CARCASSES OPACITY TAMPERING WITH DATA www.assignmentpoint.com

  18. UK : TWO RED KITES KILLED IN WALES, ONE IN SCOTLAND VERY LITTLE MONITORING BIASED STUDIES COVERING UP MORTALITY www.assignmentpoint.com

  19. FRANCE : TWO RED KITES CARCASSES FOUND LITTLE MONITORING IF ANY www.assignmentpoint.com

  20. ITALY Stefano Allavena, president of ALTURA Association for the Protection of Birds of Prey and of their Habitats, Rome www.assignmentpoint.com

  21. Read emails from Mr Allavena : URL in next frame  www.assignmentpoint.com

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

  23. 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 flyingclose to wind turbines (Dr Lekuona 2001, Dr. Smallwood 2004) www.assignmentpoint.com

  24. 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. www.assignmentpoint.com

  25. THE WIND INDUSTRY PLANS TO ERECT 3,750,000 WIND TURBINES WORLDWIDE www.assignmentpoint.com

  26. 25 birds/turbine/year + 200 birds/km/new High Tension lines = 250 million birds/year www.assignmentpoint.com

  27. www.assignmentpoint.com

  28. www.assignmentpoint.com Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium

  29. Courtesy of biologist Joris Everaert, Belgium www.assignmentpoint.com

  30. www.assignmentpoint.com

  31. WILL MITIGATION HELP? • THE ALTAMONT EXPERIENCE • - Moving the turbines • Repowering • Land management • Stopping the turbines part time • Mostly unsuccessful www.assignmentpoint.com

  32. THE TASMANIAN MITIGATION (WOOLNORTH windfarm)unsuccessfulRADARSimpracticalTHE SMOLA-TYPE MITIGATION(the omerta) will cause many more deaths www.assignmentpoint.com

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

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

  35. www.assignmentpoint.com

  36. The latest report from California found another important reason : DECLIVITY WINDS www.assignmentpoint.com

  37. Raptors and windfarms use slopes and ridges exposed to the prevailing winds www.assignmentpoint.com

  38. Raptors and windfarms are therefore…. on a collision course www.assignmentpoint.com

  39. And the raptors are losing www.assignmentpoint.com

  40. White-tailed eagle Norway www.assignmentpoint.com

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

  42. 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. www.assignmentpoint.com

  43. 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. www.assignmentpoint.com

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

  45. 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 www.assignmentpoint.com

  46. www.assignmentpoint.com

  47. 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) www.assignmentpoint.com

  48. 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. www.assignmentpoint.com

More Related