Sea eagle, which was tagged in the Netherlands, killed by a wind turbine in Germany

A young White-tailed Eagle that was tagged in the Dordtse Biesbosch in 2019, had a collision with the rotors of a wind turbine in Germany on February 24 and was killed. With both an increase in the number of wind turbines and the number of White-tailed Eagles in Germany and the Netherlands, more and more White-tailed Eagles will be killed by wind turbines.

 

In the morning of February 24, 2021, the White-tailed Eagle flew from its roost in a large forest complex on the Sellstedter See east of Bremerhaven, towards the mudflats in the mouth of the River Weser. Here she stayed that morning between 7:50 and 10:35, presumably to forage. Then the bird circled up to cross the Weser. She navigated Bremerhaven and started a descent where she ended up in a wind farm.

 

In the wind farm she flew at rotor height between two wind turbines. Approaching a third wind turbine was fatal for her. At 11:10 she died as a result of a collision with the rotors.

 

 

In Germany, between 2002 and 2019, 158 cases of dead White-tailed Eagles who were victims of a collision with a wind turbine were registered. In recent decades, the number of wind farms in Germany has grown, as has the number of White-tailed Eagles, resulting in an increase in the number of victims due to collisions. The number of turbine casualties also increased in other Northern and Eastern European countries. In the Netherlands so far there are two known cases of collisions with wind turbines in Flevoland, both were found by chance. The Dutch breeding population of White-tailed Eagles is still small, but is increasing strongly. The new developments in the field of wind energy will therefore also cause problems in the Netherlands due to the death of birds, including White-tailed Eagles.

 

 

Since 2019, eleven young White-tailed Eagles have been fitted with GPS transmitters in the Netherlands with the aim of obtaining knowledge about the dispersion (drifting of young birds) and survival of birds from the Dutch breeding population. The dead bird from the Dordtse Biesbosch concerns the first death of Dutch sea eagles that were equipped with transmitters. To investigate collision risks, 'high-resolution data' is used to accurately map three-dimensional flight behaviour. In the recently published annual report, an initial analysis showed that White-tailed Eagles in Southern and Eastern Flevoland fly on average about 22 percent of the time in the 'altitude zone' of 'average' wind turbine rotors, about 15 percent below it and about 63 percent above it.

 

The research is being carried out by the Werkgroep Zeearend Nederland in collaboration with Wageningen Environmental Research and financed by the Province of South Holland, the Province of Zeeland, the Province of Flevoland, Staatsbosbeheer, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Bettie Wiegman Fund.