Even if the windmill number is higher it's still nothing compared to the other things. Yeah, wind power is stupid but it's not quite the bird killer it's made out to be.
Posted on 09/23/2019 9:00:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Feathers at the foot of a wind turbine. Bird droppings at the base of a solar panel. A coroner could use these signs to establish the cause of mass bird death. And a novelist could pen a murder mystery titled: Death by Renewable Energy.
In 1969, there were far more active coal plants in America than today. However, in 1969, there were also 2.9 billion more birds in America. In the last decade alone, 289 coal plants have closed—a 40 percent reduction. Meanwhile, wind turbines and solar panels are going up at a record pace and scientists are reporting a “full-blown crisis” in the disappearance of 29 percent of North American birds.
“Cats eat more birds than wind turbines kill!” claim wind and solar activists. But there are fewer cats in the United States today than in 2013. Meanwhile, wind turbines and solar panels are going up at an alarming rate.
Why is nearly a third of our bird population disappearing? Common birds including sparrows, robins, warblers, blackbirds and starlings play an integral role in pollinating flowers, regenerating forests by spreading seeds, and controlling pests. We may take birds for granted—but we rely on them for a healthy ecosystem.
“Habitat loss” is the top reason for this bird disappearing act according to a new analysis in the journal Science. Let’s connect the dots. Coal plants are shuttering. Wind and solar farms consume vast tracts of land. The bright blades and lights in turbines and solar panels actually attract birds—and the insects they eat. Therefore, Audubon reports, even if wind turbines are retrofitted: “every species of bird approaches a turbine in a different manner, so training blades to recognize all birds could take years of research.”
Five years ago—in 2014—Yahoo! News reported that wind turbines are responsible for killing over 573,000 birds annually. Bird scientist Shawn Smallwood testified that one large solar farm alone—the Ivanpah solar panel project in California—likely kills 28,380 birds annually. Meanwhile, we’ve built more wind turbines and solar farms. Scientists claim to be “stunned” that birds are dropping in droves. But the writing, or bird guts, has been on the turbine blade for years.
Democrat Billionaires Get Richer Off Solar, Poor Pay Higher Energy Prices
President Trump is the only American billionaire in recent memory (other than the late Steve Jobs) who understands that socialism destroys the economy and hurts poor people.
Facebook founder billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (who once hosted a “Hoodie Summit” for President Obama, inviting him to Facebook headquarters for a town hall in 2011 to help him get re-elected) is about to get much richer now that he’s building six solar projects – each the size of four football fields – in the New Mexico desert. Fortunately for Zuck, when a Democrat destroys land, it’s called “meeting energy goals.”
Billionaire former Google CEO Eric Schmitt endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008. In 2013, he cashed in on his friendship with Obama to allocate a $1.6 billion stimulus loan toward Ivanpah solar thermal project along the California-Nevada border. Google was a joint owner of Ivanpah, and “only” destroyed 4,000 acres of pristine land and displaced a desert tortoise in the process of littering the desert with hundreds of thousands of mirrors.
The same executives jetting around the world and residing in mansions want to send the rest of us back to the caveman era. What is it to them if the rest of us lose power? They can afford to buy up 4,000 acres in the Southwest and turn it into their private solar project. Or, a crony capitalist will offer them a subsidy.
As birds die and billionaires binge, poor people pay higher prices—and face energy shortages thanks to the Democrat push for “clean” energy. Even in the energy-rich state of Texas, there are whispers of a “mandatory power cut” for consumers amid triple-digit heat. Wind and solar puts a strain on the power grid because it is not very profitable or efficient. In August, Texas became “the most expensive place to buy power in all of the United States' major markets,” reported Express-News.
Wind and solar are about 2,000 years out-of-date, and I don’t normally associate antiquity with cleanliness. The Roman and Egyptian ruins are called “ruins” because of all the dust and rubble. It’s a myth that archaic technology will result in clean air and healthy ecosystems.
We will save birds—and the ecosystems they nourish—when we stop destroying their habitats with lethal blades and blinding panels.
and my cats are walking around looking guilty for no reason ..
Bats, too...
Wouldn't it be wonderful if just once those that are intent to save the planet told us what they as individuals are going to do to conserve energy and the environment?
“will save the erf.”
As Representative for the last ERF on earth,I thank You! LOL
It’s a leftist plot to destroy all the American Bald Eagles
By comparison there are FAR fewer windmills yet somehow the birds can't avoid the slow moving blades??? Doesn't make sense to me.
I don’t see the 10 Lb cat next door dragging home bald eagles or barn owls
Maybe this article can shed some light:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/wind-energy-takes-toll-birds-now-there-s-help-ncna866336
Here’s a scientific study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320713003522
Who does the counting of these bird carcasses? Sounds doubtful.
Particularly raptors and bats. Raptors tend to fly above ridges - where the damned windmills are located - when they migrate from one area to another. We have quite a few windmills/turbines here in West Central PA and I know a couple guys who are paid to go to windmill sites and pick up dead birds (and bats) twice a week. They tell me that I’d be shocked at how many birds they pick up every week.
According to this study:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320713003522
We systematically derived an estimate of bird mortality for U.S. monopole turbines by applying inclusion criteria to compiled studies, identifying correlates of mortality, and utilizing a predictive model to estimate mortality along with uncertainty.
Despite measures taken to increase analytical rigor, the studies we used may provide a non-random representation of all data; requiring industry reports to be made publicly available would improve understanding of wind energy impacts. Nonetheless, we estimate that between 140,000 and 328,000 (mean = 234,000) birds are killed annually by collisions with monopole turbines in the contiguous U.S.
We found support for an increase in mortality with increasing turbine hub height and support for differing mortality rates among regions, with per turbine mortality lowest in the Great Plains. Evaluation of risks to birds is warranted prior to continuing a widespread shift to taller wind turbines. Regional patterns of collision risk, while not obviating the need for species-specific and local-scale assessments, may inform broad-scale decisions about wind facility siting.
The blades are moving much faster than they appear to be.
“Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia”
Good save!
Even if the windmill number is higher it's still nothing compared to the other things. Yeah, wind power is stupid but it's not quite the bird killer it's made out to be.
PING
Wind farms killed at least 67 eagles in last five years
SOURCE:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/wind-farms-killed-least-67-eagles-last-five-years-8C11133124
( This report was September 2013 )
EXCERPT:
Wind energy facilities have killed at least 67 golden and bald eagles in the last five years, but the figure could be much higher, according to a new scientific study by government biologists.
The research represents one of the first tallies of eagle deaths attributed to the nation’s growing wind energy industry, which has been a pillar of President Barack Obama’s plans to reduce the pollution blamed for global warming. Wind power releases no air pollution.
But at a minimum, the scientists wrote, wind farms in 10 states have killed at least 85 eagles since 1997, with most deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012, as the industry was greatly expanding. Most deaths — 79 — were golden eagles that struck wind turbines. One of the eagles counted in the study was electrocuted by a power line.
The vice president of the American Bird Conservancy, Mike Parr, said the tally was “an alarming and concerning finding.”
ANOTHER culprit is BUILDINGS WITH MIRRORED WINDOWS. I once worked in such a building AND EVERY MORNINGS ONE OF THE GUARDS WAS TASKED WITH WALKING AROUND THE BUILDING AND PICKING UP DEAD BIRDS THAT HAD CRASHED INTO THE WINDOWS AT FULL SPEED, not realizing a building was there.
At the base of another such building I once worked in, I found TWO DEAD HUMMINGBIRDS SIDE-BY-SIDE AT THE BASE OF THE ENTRANCE, just below the building's mirrored window facing.
SAD! I damn near cried as I buried them. Beautiful and colorful males in their Spring colors.
(Once I spotted a Blue & Gold macaw flying into someone's backyard. I was 13. I walked up to their front door and told them a Macaw was in their backyard, in a tree. WHO ANSWERED THE DOOR? NONE OTHER THAN ARTHUR LAFFER and he invited me inside to view his EXOTIC BIRD COLLECTION!!!! AWESOME BECAUSE HE ALSO HAD A RARE HYACINTH MACAW!!! TRUE STORY!!!!
[[Un-possible]]
L:OL- I tell my nieces and nephews that all the time- they look at me like I am weird lol
I have noticed a steep decline in birds over the last few years- could be any number of reasons, but maybe this has something to do with it too-
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