Assessing the impacts of wind farms on birds

Abstract

The potential effects of the proposed increase in wind energy developments on birds are explored using information from studies of existing wind farms. Evidence of the four main effects, collision, displacement due to disturbance, barrier effects and habitat loss, is presented and discussed. The consequences of such effects may be direct mortality or more subtle changes to condition and breeding success. The requirements for assessing the impact of future developments are summarized, including relevant environmental legislation and appropriate methods for undertaking baseline surveys and post‐construction monitoring, with particular emphasis on the rapidly developing area of offshore wind farm assessments. Mitigation measures which have the potential to minimize impacts are also summarized. Finally, recent developments in the monitoring and research of wind energy impacts on birds are outlined and some areas for future work are described.

Prolonged stopover and consequences of migratory strategy on local-scale movements within a regional songbird staging area

“…That some individuals made short, frequent movements in the region is also notable because flight behavior can influence the degree to which birds are exposed to collision hazards like communication towers and wind turbines (Drewitt andLangston 2006, Langston 2013). These structures can pose a significant threat to migrant songbirds, particularly during takeoffs, landings, and short flights (Crawford and Engstrom 2001, Hüppop et al 2006, Longcore et al 2012.…”

Bird Collisions in a Railway Crossing a Wetland of International Importance (Sado Estuary, Portugal)

“…To collect baseline information for mitigating impacts, bird collision risk has been the subject of intensive research over the past two decades (Loss et al 2015), with many studies documenting bird mortality and its correlates in relation to roads (Santos et al 2016), wind farms (Barrios and Rodríguez 2004;Drewitt and Langston 2006), power lines (Barrientos et al 2011(Barrientos et al , 2012, and buildings (Loss et al 2015). Surprisingly, however, very few studies have analyzed bird collision in relation to railways, although these linear infrastructures extend over tens of thousands of kilometers across the world (see Chap.…”

Shooting is still a main threat for raptors inhabiting urban and suburban areas of Rome, Italy

“…So far, most of the studies on the causes of mortality of wild raptors have focused on single species (Real et al 2001;González et al 2007;Margalida et al 2008) or have assessed the impact of single threats, such as power lines (Lehman et al 2007) or wind farms (Drewitt & Langston 2006;Bernardino et al 2013). Assessing mortality causes is generally hard to pursue due to the difficulty in finding dead or dying wildlife and tracking animals until their death.…”