Unique Study: Birds Avoid Wind Turbine Blades
The title of this post, is the same as that of this media report from Vattenfall.
This is the sub-heading.
Seabirds deliberately avoid wind turbine rotor blades offshore – that is the main finding of a new study that mapped the flightpaths of thousands of birds around wind turbines in the North Sea. Most importantly, during two years of monitoring using cameras and radar, not a single bird was recorded colliding with a rotor blade.
I must admit I’m not surprised, as I’ve landed a light aircraft many times with birds flying above the runway and I can’t remember ever hitting one. But I have seen several dive out of the way.
The report is a fascinating read.
The Anonymous Widower 
Gosh fancy that. I have watched large birds fly through swaying trees in strong winds and guess what they miss. I am pretty sure they can avoid wind turbines. In fact lighthouses (e.g. at Gibraltar) cause them more trouble as they tend to fly round and round them at night during migrations.
Check out https://youtu.be/Ra6I6svXQPg
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | February 28, 2023 |
The cynic in me would ask whether this is peer reviewed research published in a major scientific journal (i.e. gold standard fact checked for public discourse) , but I think I know the answer already.
Comment by MilesT | March 1, 2023 |