Uproar After Turbine Slaughters Innocent Birdie (WARNING: GRAPHIC, TONGUE-IN-CHEEK CONTENT)

[wtmusic]

"This week an extraordinary animal paid a visit to our shores. The elegant and lightning-fast white-throated needletail breeds mostly in China and migrates to Australia, so it was unusual sight dancing around the Isle of Harris in Scotland. The spectacle attracted birders from across the country and created a flurry of activity online as the lucky few shared their extraordinary images.

Sadly, the poor bird met an untimely end. A long way from home, presumably disoriented and exhausted from its journey that had brought it to the other side of the world from its kin, it flew into a small community wind turbine and died immediately.

Predictably, some people, who have shown little interest in bird conservation before, have sought to martyr this poor bird for their anti-windfarm cause. This is as offensive as it is irrational."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/jun/28/white-throated-needletail-wind-turbines

I'm not the biggest fan of wind power, but this op-ed struck a note. Note to wind advocates: give up. You can note how wind energy is clean, it saves some burning of coal and human lives every day, but if it kills a cute animal you're just screwed.

[Starboard Tack]

1. Let's give up jet aircraft first.

Wind energy is a big part of our future, if we have a future.

[Bill USA]

2. bird deaths by lighted windows in buildings: 100 mil - 1 Billion; by power lines: 130 - 170 million.

there's more here, not that facts matter....

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds.htm


..somehow I find it hard to imaging that most birds can't outmaneuver the rather slowly rotating turbine blades. Ever seen birds fly through a wooded area diving and dodging tree branches moving in the wind.. or fly in and land on moving branches?


actually, the subtitle to the Guardian story points out the biggest threat:

"The death of any bird is tragic, but when it comes to climate change we are talking about extinction of whole species."