Night Migrant Fatalities and Obstruction Lighting at Wind Turbines in North America

Kerlinger, Paul; Gehring, Joelle; Erickson, Wallace P.; Curry, Richard; Jain, Aaftab; Guarnaccia, John

doi:10.1676/06-075.1

Cited by 41 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…We note, however, that single-night mortality events with several hundred identified dead birds at unlit <60 m towers have been reported, often related to lighting at adjacent infrastructure [30], which is consistent with reports from turbines and towers monitored at industrial wind facilities [64]. Our analysis therefore applies to towers ≥60 m.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

An Estimate of Avian Mortality at Communication Towers in the United States and Canada

et al. 2012

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Avian mortality at communication towers in the continental United States and Canada is an issue of pressing conservation concern. Previous estimates of this mortality have been based on limited data and have not included Canada. We compiled a database of communication towers in the continental United States and Canada and estimated avian mortality by tower with a regression relating avian mortality to tower height. This equation was derived from 38 tower studies for which mortality data were available and corrected for sampling effort, search efficiency, and scavenging where appropriate. Although most studies document mortality at guyed towers with steady-burning lights, we accounted for lower mortality at towers without guy wires or steady-burning lights by adjusting estimates based on published studies. The resulting estimate of mortality at towers is 6.8 million birds per year in the United States and Canada. Bootstrapped subsampling indicated that the regression was robust to the choice of studies included and a comparison of multiple regression models showed that incorporating sampling, scavenging, and search efficiency adjustments improved model fit. Estimating total avian mortality is only a first step in developing an assessment of the biological significance of mortality at communication towers for individual species or groups of species. Nevertheless, our estimate can be used to evaluate this source of mortality, develop subsequent per-species mortality estimates, and motivate policy action.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

An Estimate of Avian Mortality at Communication Towers in the United States and Canada

et al. 2012

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“…Previous studies have shown that lights can affect avian behavior in daylight (Jones and Francis 2003, Blackwell and Bernhardt 2004, Blackwell et al 2009b and nighttime light conditions (Gehring et al 2009, Kerlinger et al 2010. The results of our stationary-aircraft experiment showed that cowbirds were more responsive to the RC aircraft with lights on, supporting the contention that cowbird detection behavior could be enhanced with the 470-nm lights used in the present study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

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2015

The Condor

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“…Explanations include the loss of visual clues to the horizon and visual disorientation (Herbert, 1970); the loss of night-vision, resulting in a reluctance to enter the zone of darkness (Avery et al, 1976); and the loss of visibility of the moon and stars for help with orientation (Gastman, 1886;Avery et al, 1976;Dick and Donaldson, 1978;Gauthreaux and Belser, 2006). Factors that can influence the degree of light attraction include color of the lights (Wiltschko et al, 1993;Gauthreaux and Belser, 2006;Evans et al, 2007;Poot et al, 2008;Kerlinger et al, 2010), the species or age-classes of birds that are attracted (Gauthreaux and Belser, 2006), the total brightness of the light or the amount of light escaping into the night sky (Verheijen, 1981a;Reed et al, 1985;Ogden, 2002;Jones and Francis, 2003;Gauthreaux and Belser, 2006;Hirata, 2007), and whether the light is flashing or stationary (Spofford, 1949;Howell et al, 1954;Ferren, 1959;Gauthreaux and Belser, 2006;Kerlinger et al, 2010).…”

Section: Effects Of Gas-flaring On Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Gas Flaring on the Behavior of Night-migrating Birds at an Artificial Oil-production Island, Arctic Alaska

Day¹,

Rose²,

Prichard³

et al. 2015

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. We studied movement rates and the general flight behavior of bird flocks seen on radar and recorded visually at Northstar Island, Arctic Alaska, from 13 to 27 September 2002. Most of this period (13 -19 and 21 -27 September) had no gas-flaring events, but a major gas-flaring event occurred on the night of 20 September. Movement rates of targets on radar and of bird flocks recorded visually in the first ~50% -60% of the night were much lower during the non-flaring period than during the night of flaring, whereas rates in the last ~40% -50% of the night were similar in all periods. The general flight behavior of birds also differed significantly, with higher percentages of both radar targets and bird flocks exhibiting straight-line (directional) flight behaviors during the non-flaring periods and higher percentages of radar targets and bird flocks exhibiting non-straight-line (erratic and circling) flight behaviors during the gas-flaring period. During the night of gas flaring, the bright illumination appeared to have an effect only after sunset, when flocks of birds circled the island after being drawn in from what appeared to be a substantial distance from the island. On both radar and visual sampling, the number of bird flocks approaching the island declined over the evening, and the attractiveness of the light from flaring appeared to decline. The visibility of the moon appeared to have little effect on the behavior of birds. Because illumination from extensive gas-flaring is such a strong attractant to migrating birds and because most bird flocks fly at low altitudes over the water, flaring booms on coastal and offshore oil-production platforms in Arctic Alaska should be positioned higher than the mean flight altitudes of migrating birds to reduce the chances of incineration.Key words: Alaska; behavior; Clangula; collision; eider; gas flaring; gull; light attraction; loon; migration; sea duck; shorebird; Somateria RÉSUMÉ. Nous avons étudié les taux de déplacement et le comportement de vol général des troupeaux d'oiseaux captés par radar ou consignés visuellement à l'île Northstar, dans l'Alaska de l'Arctique, du 13 au 27 septembre 2002. Pendant presque toute cette période (du 13 au 19 et du 21 au 27 septembre), il n'y a pas eu de brûlage de gaz à la torche, mais la nuit du 20 septembre, il y a eu un important brûlage de gaz à la torche. Les taux de déplacement des cibles radar et des troupeaux d'oiseaux consignés visuellement pendant la première tranche d'environ 50 % à 60 % de la nuit étaient beaucoup moins élevés pendant la période où il n'y avait pas de brûlage à la torche que pendant la nuit où il y a eu brûlage à la torche, tandis que pendant la deuxième tranche d'environ 40 % à 50 % de la nuit, les taux de déplacement étaient semblables pendant toutes les périodes. Le comportement de vol général des oiseaux a également affiché une différence considérable. De plus grands pourcentages de cibles radar et de troupeaux d'oiseaux adoptaient un comportement de vol rectiligne (direct) pendant les péri...

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Night Migrant Fatalities and Obstruction Lighting at Wind Turbines in North America

Cited by 41 publications

References 6 publications

An Estimate of Avian Mortality at Communication Towers in the United States and Canada

An Estimate of Avian Mortality at Communication Towers in the United States and Canada

Full Issue

Effects of Gas Flaring on the Behavior of Night-migrating Birds at an Artificial Oil-production Island, Arctic Alaska

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