[mou] Wind Turbines and birds, a question.

[Tom Gray]

At 04:31 PM 11/30/2003 -0600, O. William Bruins wrote:
>Has anyone seen or heard of any reports about the reactions by prairie 
>chickens or grouse to the presence of wind turbines, especially in 
>Minnesota? Are there any published papers about the effects of wind 
>turbines on birds in Minnesota?
>
>A friend at my local utility is curious about this.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Bill
>
>
>William Bruins
>WBruins@EarthLink.Net
>Rochester, MN in Olmsted County, SE MN
>
>"The real world is not user friendly."  -- Kelvin Throop

To my knowledge, there are no studies as yet about "reactions by prairie 
chickens or grouse to the presence of wind turbines," and particularly not 
in Minnesota.  However, there is a major body of material collected on 
prairie grouse by Robert Robel which documents their sensitivity to, and 
avoidance of, a wide range of human structures (roads, power lines, oil 
pumpjacks, houses, etc.) and which is thought by prairie grouse enthusiasts 
to indicate that they will give wind turbines and their service roads a 
similarly wide berth.  Again to my knowledge, we do not know for sure that 
this is so, although it does seem to be a reasonable hypothesis based on 
Robel's work.

There is at least one major published work on "the effects of wind turbines 
on birds in Minnesota," located at 
http://www.eqb.state.mn.us/pdf/Wind/NSP99RPT.pdf .  It's the final report 
of a 4-year monitoring study at Buffalo Ridge and is 8 MB in length.  Here 
is a relevant section from the summary: "The area of reduced use occurred 
primarily in close proximity (i.e., < 100 m) to turbines; however, the area 
of reduced use was larger for certain avian groups during some seasons. On 
a large-scale basis (i.e., within the entire WRA [Wind Resource Area--TG]), 
reduced use by birds associated with windpower development appears to be 
relatively minor and would not likely have any population consequences on a 
regional level. A positive effect of reduced avian use around turbines 
would be reduced potential for collision mortality. Lower avian use where 
turbines are present may be due to avoidance of turbine noise, maintenance 
activities, and less available habitat due to the presence of maintenance 
roads and cleared gravel pads surrounding turbines. Another potential 
factor in the lowered avian use noted at turbine plots is that turbine 
noise may reduce observer detection rates of birds, especially those that 
observers detected by sound only.

A quick overview of non-collision impacts of wind farms (including Buffalo 
Ridge) is online at 
http://www.nationalwind.org/events/wildlife/2003/presentations/strickland.pdf .

Other wind/avian studies available on the Web:
Avian Perspectives Paper: 
<http://www.nationalwind.org/pubs/avian_collisions.pdf>http://www.nationalwind.org/pubs/avian_collisions.pdf 

BPA [Bonneville Power Administration] Avian and Bat Meta-Analysis: 
<http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf>http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf 

WEST Wind/Avian Studies Page: 
<http://www.west-inc.com/wind_reports.php>http://www.west-inc.com/wind_reports.php 


Make sure that your friend is up to speed on the impacts of global warming 
from fossil fuels on avian species:
American Bird Conservancy "Birdwatcher's Guide to Global Warming": 
http://www.abcbirds.org/climatechange/birdwatchersguide.pdf

Regards,
Tom Gray
American Wind Energy Association