A new study indicates that winds turbines could be contributing to the local extinction of an endangered vulture in southern Spain. ...The results suggest that if the number of wind turbines stays the same as it is today, the population will go extinct 10 years sooner than if there were no wind farms.

A proposal to put 15 wind turbines as close as one kilometre offshore in Lake Erie should require an environmental assessment, Gord Meuser, a spokesman for the group Citizens Against Lake Erie Wind Turbines, said Friday. SouthPoint Wind has completed its environmental screening report but Meuser said the group will be asking that it be bumped up to an environmental assessment with more studies specifically on Lake Erie.

Every state in the Northeast has set a target for increasing the amount of renewable energy it produces. Wind power is a big part of this push, but it may pose a danger to birds and bats. As part of a collaboration of northeast public radio stations, David Chanatry reports from the site of the biggest wind farm in the region.

Could wind farms hasten the local extinction of an endangered vulture in southern Spain?

An energy company has admitted precious Red Kites are at significant risk from its planned new wind farm complex in South Wales. Now, campaigners against the controversial proposal in the Swansea Valley say they will prosecute npower renewables under the Wildlife and Countryside Act if the farm goes ahead and Red Kites - dubbed Wales' National Bird - are chopped up in turbine blades.

For the next four months or so, Mr Ressom and fellow observer Helen Phillips will stand sentry among the reeds, monitoring the numbers of Australia's rarest bird - the orange-bellied parrot - making sure its dwindling numbers don't fly into the blades of a wind turbine. ...Last year, the turbines at Yambuk were shut down twice, when the observers alerted the wind farm operator Pacific Hydro, that a number of the parrots were feeding in the vicinity.

Nature conservationists are expected to raise concerns over potential plans to place four wind turbines close to an internationally important bird reserve. ...Martin Kerby, RSPB planning officer for the North-east said: ... "When the planning application is submitted we will be looking very carefully at it. It depends on how many birds are passing through. "It's about 1km from Saltholme but of most concern is the North Tees mudflats."

Highland New Wind Development (HNWD), the self-touted "Greenest Wind Farm in the World," has initiated clearing, road work, and excavation for its 19-turbine project in the remote Allegheny Mountain, Laurel Fork area along the Highland County-Pocahontas County, Virginia-West Virginia border. ...The SCC has scheduled a hearing to be convened on September 23, 2009 to receive evidence and testimony from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and HNWD concerning the wind energy developer's compliance with the SCC's December 2007 order

New Jersey and Delaware environmental officials say a wind farm planned for the Delaware Bay could disturb an important flyway for birds. Delsea Energy of Toms River, N.J., has a plan to construct 106 turbines in the upper Delaware Bay, on the New Jersey side of the shipping channel that divides Garden State waters from those controlled by Delaware.

A host of New Jersey environmental officials and scientists have lined up against another proposed "wind farm" in the Delaware Bay. In an Aug. 20 letter, Scott Brubaker, an assistant commissioner of the New Jersey state Department of Environmental Protection, listed numerous concerns about Delsea Energy's proposal for a 42 square mile field of wind turbines off the Cumberland County shore.

State environmental officials oppose wind turbines anywhere in the Delaware Bay, a position that could jeopardize an Ocean County firm's plans for a wind park there. The Department of Environmental Protection cited potential threats to migratory birds, oyster seed beds and other resources in an Aug. 20 letter to Delsea Energy, of Toms River. Scott Brubaker, the DEP's assistant commissioner for land use management, wrote "the Delaware Bay is not an appropriate area for development of wind energy."

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is being pressed behind-the-scenes to drop its opposition to wind farms in Delaware Bay, an internationally recognized migratory bird stopover, according to e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Documents reveal a powerful South Jersey Senator and a former DEP Commissioner pushing to reverse a DEP scientific finding that Delaware Bay "is not appropriate for a large-scale wind turbine project due to...impacts to migratory and other bird populations."

Not much is certain about the future of sage grouse in Wyoming - including the birds' undecided status as a potentially endangered species and their possible role in curbing oil, gas and even wind energy development. But based on a number of sage grouse habitat improvement projects in development across the Bighorn Basin, one thing is certain: Boosting the bird's prospects is a slow and painstaking process.

Energy advocates are eyeing wind turbines to create electricity along the North Shore. Bird researchers are studying where the migrating birds fly most often. Once they know, they can advise the energy people on areas to avoid. ..."We know we have a globally significant raptor migration route here that [wind turbines] could have a serious impact on if not done correctly,'' Niemi said. "But we also have these hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of passerines [small birds] that come through here at pretty much the same time that most people don't even know about. We have to look out for them, too.''

Brian Rutledge, executive director of Audubon Wyoming out of Laramie, said golden eagles, along with other raptors, are struggling in light of the energy development around the state. Power poles are being erected in areas of the sagebrush sea ...and now raptors can perch there and pick off sage grouse. ...He said a rise in wind energy also threatens the bird.

Wind turbine blades in Turitea Reserve could hurt New Zealand's endangered native falcons, a board of inquiry has been told. Biogeography specialist Professor Emeritus of Massey University John Flenley told the Turitea Wind Farm hearing yesterday the planned wind farm could lead to local extinction of the rare bird.

Wind energy seems like a win-win for the area, providing energy with low impact on the environment. But what happens to wildlife when wind turbines go up? Wind turbines produce enough clean energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes across the state. But Purdue University Associate Professor John Dunning said they could also pose a threat to animals that share the airspace.

Iberdrola SA and E.ON AG's turbine dreams for the windswept Texas Panhandle may be stymied by the mating rituals of the lesser prairie chicken. Wind-power developers such as E.ON are scouring sagebrush and grasslands for the presence of ground-dwelling chickens that could impede turbine construction plans. Once plentiful in the southern high plains, the bird has a high priority for listing under the Endangered Species Act, which would put at risk where as much as $11 billion in turbines that are part of the U.S.'s renewable-energy push can be built.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources is no longer considering leasing 2,560 acres of state trust land to SDS Lumber Co. for possible future expansion of the proposed Whistling Ridge Energy Project in Skamania County. A notice released by the DNR's Ellensburg office on Aug. 10 says the agency "is no longer considering a lease" but could reconsider the option at some future date. "The reason it was withdrawn was because of issues with endangered species," DNR spokesman Aaron Toso said Friday.

The wildlife sanctuary Zealandia, in the Wellington suburb of Karori, says a proposed wind farm could put endangered native birds at risk. The Mighty River Power proposal involves building 25 turbines, 30 metres high, to the west of Brooklyn and south of Karori.