I wish I could write this story as a travel brochure for this gorgeous North American gem, but if the proposed prop-style wind farm is built here, right in the midst of migratory flyways and breeding grounds, there will be no reason to bring your birding glasses. Or your crab traps. ...Despite industry propaganda, bird mortality from such farms is alarmingly high, and worse, due to the placement of the farms, many of the casualties are endangered or protected species like Golden eagles.

Long Point Waterfowl is worried that the McGuinty government is flying blind when it comes to the development of wind power. The waterfowl study group has set aside $300,000 for a two-year probe of wind turbines and their potential impact on waterfowl in the lower Great Lakes. Long Point Waterfowl is undertaking the research to address gaps in its understanding.

The 500 ducks that died in the Alberta oilsands pale in comparison to the thousands of birds killed by cats or by crashing into Toronto office towers or flying into windmills, says Conservative MP Brian Jean. ...At the committee, he questioned federal officials about "how do you balance" 500 ducks who died in an oilsands tailings pond with 6,000 killed annually on Toronto skyscrapers and 200,000 caught in wind turbines.

It is with great· sadness that we have come to the realization that the "Mohawk Point Wind Farm" has virtually destroyed our backyard avian population. (Lowbanks Wind Facility, Haldimand County, Ontario) ...The only tenants in the nesting box and brand new $120.00 Purple Martin House will be sparrows. The constant drone of the turbine closest to us is, in my opinion, comparable to the sound of the heavy duty cycle on a clothes dryer. The drone continues non-stop, 24 hours a day, and it will be interesting to see how long the sparrows and starlings continue to put up with it.

It is time for Ontario to work with citizens and environmental specialists to establish guidelines for the careful development of wind energy (Who Could Object To Wind Power? - Nov. 25). There are some places where wind turbines simply don't belong. ...Build wind developments in the wrong places and the environment will be collateral damage.

Birds are in big trouble in North America. A recent study found 127 species of neotropical migratory birds are in decline. How badly? The Black-chinned Sparrow population has fallen 89 per cent over the past 40 years, the Cerulean Warbler is down 83 per cent, and Sprague's Pipit population has declined by 81 per cent. So drastically have overall migratory bird populations fallen that one scientist who compared weather satellite images over time, found that migrating bird flocks were 50 per cent smaller than they were several years ago. Last week in Washington, Congress began hearings into the crisis and there were calls on the government to boost funding to the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act.

An Amherst area resident is continuing his fight to stop a proposed wind farm on the marsh near the town. Jim Milner, who lives on the John Black Road, is preparing a submission to the project environmental assessment claiming that its existence threatens the future of the John Lusby Marsh as a wildlife habitat. "Wildlife is the property of the Crown so it is the duty of the province to protect wildlife, not sell to the lowest proponent bidder," Milner said in his submission.

Following a study of the movement of birds at a proposed wind farm site, the City of Summerside has reduced the number of turbines planned and changed their shoreline location. ...Two of the four turbines would go on the shoreline of Malpeque Bay, just east of Slemon Park. The site is recognized under an international conservation treaty signed in 1971, known as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Whooping cranes, one of the world's rarest birds, have waged a valiant battle against extinction. But federal officials warn of a new potential threat to the endangered whoopers: wind farms. Down to as few as 16 in 1941, the gargantuan birds that migrate 2,400 miles each fall from Canada to Texas, thanks to conservation efforts, now number about 266. But because wind energy, one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy, has gained such traction, whooping cranes could again be at risk - from either crashing into the towering wind turbines and transmission lines or because of habitat lost to the wind farms. "Basically you can overlay the strongest, best areas for wind turbine development with the whooping crane migration corridor," said Tom Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Over the past several months there have been three notices in The Citizen regarding use of provincial lands for installation of monitoring towers to investigate the potential of wind energy. There have been similar notices in Vanderhoof for additional lands in that area. Taken individually, these seem not too intrusive, but cumulatively, looking at the big picture, the possibility of having one big wind farm, stretching from the south side of Cluculz Lake over to the area between Bednesti and Dahl Lakes, then across Highway 16 from Cobb Lake to Eskers Provincial Park - alarm bells start going off. I would like to embrace the concept of wind energy but I am really concerned with regards to the impact these possible installations may have on both resident and migratory birds.

Mr. Schneider, a retired biologist from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a 38-year resident of Cape Vincent, provided these compelling comments in response to Canadian Hydro Developers' environmental review report on the Wolfe Island wind project. The first page of his letter is provided below. The full text can be accessed by clicking on the link(s) at the bottom of this page.

County Council narrowly agreed Wednesday to spend another $10,000 on new studies to make sure internationally significant bird, bat and raptor populations aren't harmed by looming wind energy projects. However, some councillors complained that the Jones Consulting Group of Oakville, which is doing the county's wind energy planning study, should have anticipated the need for the additional research. "I'm just a little disappointed in the whole process," said Leamington Mayor John Adams. He said he thought it was clear from the start that protection of birds, bats and raptors was going to be the major issue in the planning study.

Will wind energy farms with hundreds of turbine towers and blades reaching up more than 100 meters have an impact on this area's international reputation as a corridor for migrating birds and monarch butterflies? That could turn out to be the biggest question wind farm developers have to answer as they prepare to unveil local sites for their multimillion dollar projects.

Nesting birds have developers Alberta Wind Energy Corporation back before the Municipal District's planning commission seeking to relocate three turbines on their proposed wind farm near the Oldman River Dam. Arthur Lee from the company says that a pair of nesting ferruginous hawks and prairie falcons have been spotted close to three of the proposed turbines. Alberta Sustainable Resources guidelines recommend that wind turbines are located at least 500 metres away from nest sites. As a result, Lee says that AWEC is looking for permission to relocate the turbines some 400 metres from their original sites.

Earlier this month, the National Academy of Science put forward some compelling evidence that industrial wind power has some serious flaws. Also, recent U.S. Congress hearings brought forth several expert testimonies that warn of a potential environmental disaster (birds, bats, etc.) due to poor siting of turbines and lack of accountability. There are gaping holes in the protection of wildlife, birds and bats in particular, from poorly sited, constructed and monitored wind turbines in both the U.S. and Canada.

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. (CP) - The city of Summerside plans to complete a bird migration survey in coming months as part of the environmental assessment for its proposed wind farm. Greg Gaudet, chair of municipal services, explained the study would provide supplemental information to the original assessment document prepared for the project that is proposed to be built near the Prince Edward Island city. The information will also be used to make recommendations on how to construct the wind farm so it has minimal environmental impact.

Wind turbines shouldn't be allowed near Point Pelee National Park, Holiday Beach or the south shore of Essex County, Ron Elliott, co-ordinator of the Windsor Essex County Environment Committee, says. "They do have the potential if they're in the wrong places to be an environmental disaster for birds. There's no denying that. And they're going to be around for 20 years, so they have to be located right," Elliott said, adding the "whole south shore is essentially one big migration route."

The Mexican government is preparing a big wind energy project, but peasant farmers and bird experts aren’t too happy about it. The government’s aim is for wind-generated electricity — which now accounts for just 0.005 percent of the energy generated in Mexico — to reach six percent by 2030. The project has the blessing of some big corporations and environmentalists. Achieving that goal involves setting up more than 3,000 turbines in Mexico’s windiest zone, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the southern state of Oaxaca, as well as several other wind farms around the country with dozens of turbines each. But erecting the windmills, tall towers with a 27-metre blade span, requires negotiating with landowners, most of whom are farmers. Some have complained that they were taken advantage of when the first wind farm was created in 1994. Meanwhile, ornithologiests experts warn that many bird species are at risk of being killed by the giant blades, which could cause an environmental chain reaction across the continent, because various birds are migratory. “Everything is bent towards facilitating the wind farms, but there is not much interest in the birds, which in the long term could bring much broader problems,” RaGBPl Ortiz-Pulido, spokesman for the Mexican office of BirdLife International, told Tierramerica.