Testimony from the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Oversight Hearing on "Going, Going, Gone? An Assessment of the Global Decline in Bird Populations"

While the public and many decision-makers generally believe that wind energy is environmentally benign, it may entail significant detriments to wildlife and essential habitats, which need to be more clearly understood, and addressed. State fish and wildlife agencies should be at the forefront of cooperative development and implementation of measures to characterize, avoid, minimize and effectively mitigate the impacts of wind energy development on natural resources. Therefore the position of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, in regard to wind energy development is to: ...

ABSTRACT Wind energy development represents significant challenges and opportunities in contemporary wildlife management. Such challenges include the large size and extensive placement of turbines that may represent potential hazards to birds and bats. However, the associated infrastructure required to support an array of turbines—such as roads and transmission lines—represents an even larger potential threat to wildlife than the turbines themselves because such infrastructure can result in extensive habitat fragmentation and can provide avenues for invasion by exotic species. There are numerous conceptual research opportunities that pertain to issues such as identifying the best and worst placement of sites for turbines that will minimize impacts on birds and bats. Unfortunately, to date very little research of this type has appeared in the peer-reviewed scientific literature; much of it exists in the form of unpublished reports and other forms of gray literature. In this paper, we summarize what is known about the potential impacts of wind farms on wildlife and identify a 3-part hierarchical approach to use the scientific method to assess these impacts. The Lower Gulf Coast (LGC) of Texas, USA, is a region currently identified as having a potentially negative impact on migratory birds and bats, with respect to wind farm development. This area is also a region of vast importance to wildlife from the standpoint of native diversity, nature tourism, and opportunities for recreational hunting. We thus use some of the emergent issues related to wind farm development in the LGC—such as siting turbines on cropland sites as opposed to on native rangelands—to illustrate the kinds of challenges and opportunities that wildlife managers must face as we balance our demand for sustainable energy with the need to conserve and sustain bird migration routes and corridors, native vertebrates, and the habitats that support them. (JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT 71(8):2487–2498; 2007)

This important collaborative document describes the current research on wind energy and the assessment of impacts on nocturnally active birds and bats.

The Service favors:
--conservation of wildlife in the public trust;
--development of renewable energy that is bird and bat friendly; and
--use of informed decisions based on adequate environmental assessment and sound science.

This compilation of scientific reports provides compelling evidence of significant bird mortality at windfarms. Its cumulative effect with other causes of bird deaths may bring many species to extinction - especially as captivity-bred specimens will be lacking turbine-free habitats where they can be released safely.

Industrial Wind Action is pleased to include Donald S. Heintzelman as an ally in our efforts to educate the populace on the potential detrimental impacts of industrial wind energy facilities on migrating hawks, eagles, and falcons. Mr. Heintzelman, an ornithological and wildlife consultant with more than 50 years field experience, is a pioneer in the field of hawk migration science--particularly along the Appalachian ridgelines. He is the author of 21 published books including the four hawk migration books featured here. His books are important references for anyone interested in identifying where migrating hawks occur and understanding the flightpaths and behaviors of these amazing flying creatures. Three of his four books listed below are available on the used book market; the last recently was published by Falcon Guide/Globe Pequot Press as the 2nd edition of Guide to Hawk Watching in North America. Mr. Heintzelman lives in the rural countryside of southeastern Pennsylvania.

BBC Research & Consulting's 2005 report for the National Wind Coordinating Committee that studies 9 wind plant sitings in an effort to identify circumstances that distinguish welcomed projects from projects that were not accepted by communities.

...additional radar studies would be required to see if spring migration patterns are different than those measured in the fall. Typically spring migration is shorter than fall migration with fewer numbers in the shorter period of time. How this will affect the numbers of birds passing through the rotor swept volume is unknown. It is important to determine the seasonal timing, altitude and numbers of migrant birds passing over the proposed project site and the effects of weather upon their passage over a greater part of the whole year. In addition, it is possible to determine some of the bird and bat species passing through the project site by accoustical sensors to determine which species, that make vocal calls, are migrating through the site.

William R. Evans, a renowned ornithologist with expertise in nocturnal bird migration, provides a comprehensive critique of the Avian Risk Assessment for the Chautauqua Wind plant (NY). As part of this critique, Evans addresses the deficiencies in the Erickson, et al. bird mortality studies widely quoted by the wind industry.