Birdwatchers see rare white-throated needletail fly into turbine on Harris

[caraher]

I had the Fox News version of this story forwarded to me by my sister, who got it from my wind turbine-hating cousin.

Apart from the fact that, however awful it surely was for UK birdwatchers to witness this freak accident, the death of any single bird scarcely measures up against the many entire bird species threatened not just with random death but extinction by fossil fuel use, describing the bird in the headline as "rare" is ridiculous spin. The bird is rare in the UK:

The white-throated needletail, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia, was spotted on Harris.

At least the BBC piece ends with this comment from a bird conservation group:

A spokeswoman said: "Whilst the collision of this unusual visitor with a small domestic wind turbine is very unfortunate, incidents of this sort are really very rare.

"Careful choice of location and design of wind farms and turbines prevents, as much as possible, such occurrences happening on a large scale."

She added: "Wind energy makes a vital contribution towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, which is the biggest threat to our native birds and wildlife."

The FOX version offers no perspective, to nobody's surprise...

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yes, we should eliminate all wind turbines. And, trains.

Mr Campbell, who is now making his way home to south east England, said: "We just watched the whole thing with dismay."

He added that on a previous bird watching trip he had seen a migratory wryneck hit by a train.

[caraher]

5. Yup

I also pointed out to my sister that if our cousin were truly concerned with birds she'd be demonstrating against letting housecats outside

[progressoid]

10. And cars.

My wife hit a bird last week.

[Buzz Clik]

2. The white-throated needle tail is "of least concern" re: threatened/endangered species.

It's this kind of ignorant shit that really pisses me off about "environmentalism". How are we to make progress when well-meaning people refuse to take the time to educated themselves on the simplest of subjects?

http://bird-species.findthedata.org/l/3448/White-throated-Needletail

[caraher]

4. I sent that link to my sister

This is what ticked me off about the headline - it wrongly suggests the bird killed is truly rare; it is easy for the casual reader to assume that it's endangered. The real story here is about a freak accident spoiling an equally freakish bird sighting!

[Buzz Clik]

9. There you go -- that really is the point.

A group of bird watchers dashed off to see a bird that was out of its element, only to watch its demise. In the context of this group of birders, this was shocking and horrible. In the context of the world at large, it was a non-event.

[XemaSab]

6. #ABArare - White-throated Needletail - Alaska

#ABArare guru John Puschock sends word of a MEGA in western Alaska.

On June 5, Jess Findlay was hiking down Attu’s Weston Mountain when a swift streaked past him. He was able to snap a few photographs before it flew off. While far from the best photos, they were good enough to show that it was the ABA Area’s fifth White-throated Needletail (Code 5).

http://blog.aba.org/2013/06/abarare-white-throated-needletail-alaska.html


Rarities may be considered globally or locally. Needletails are rare in Britain and they're rare in the US. Nobody's trying to argue that this species is globally rare.

[Buzz Clik]

8. "Nobody's trying to argue that this species is globally rare."

One wonders why "rare" was mentioned at all. These birds that wind up in Britain are probably lost and likely doomed, even in the absence of wind mills.

If the point is NOT that the white-throated needle tail is rare, then what is the point?

[Starboard Tack]

3. Not a swift enough swift. Sounds like a setup to me.

Maybe Rupert had the bird brought in from OZ specially for this event.

[wtmusic]

7. OMG the dustup in GD over this nonsense.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3120099