Wind mills and birds

n3qik
n3qik Solar Expert Posts: 741 ✭✭
in Wind Power Generation #1
Read a lot about them killing birds. Well after today, I say BS !!!
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    Yes, but the blades aren't spinning (another typical problem with small-scale wind systems). :p
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  • n3qik
    n3qik Solar Expert Posts: 741 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    Small or large scale, I am in a low wind area.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    a stationary home can kill a bird as birds fly into them often and the co2 emitted from the stack or chimney often kills many that are just trying to stay warm in the cold months. even moving cars and trucks hit birds. birds aren't a valid argument against wind generation.
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  • Truth Squad
    Truth Squad Solar Expert Posts: 126 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    The reflective glass on tall buildings kills more songbirds than just about anything else other than peoples' free-roaming housecats. However, the key issue is raptors and the infamous Altamont windfarm was implicated in killing scores of them. Rsearch has to be done on proposed windfarm sites before building them to assure such things do not happen moving forward. The flip side of the coin is certain pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture could possibly kill more raptors than windfarms ever could. Raptors eat "high on the food chain" and, like swordfish, ingest more agri-chemical residue than a sparrow would.

    At the end of the day, there ain't no free lunch.
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  • TnAndy
    TnAndy Solar Expert Posts: 249 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    I'd hate to tell you how many birds manage to fly into our windows here at the house. Not unusual at all to hear a "Ka-THUMP" and find one laying senseless on the deck.
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  • Truth Squad
    Truth Squad Solar Expert Posts: 126 ✭✭
    #7
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    Reflective stickers can be put on windows to keep birds from flying into them. Most wild bird feeder stores online carry them.
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,945 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: Wind mills and birds
    Truth Squad wrote: »
    The flip side of the coin is certain pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture could possibly kill more raptors than windfarms ever could.

    At the end of the day, there ain't no free lunch.


    And don't forget to add Cumadin that is used in rat poison. The kill that keeps killing. Raptors eat the dead or almost dead rat and the stuff just keeps killing.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: Wind mills and birds
    Dave Sparks wrote: »
    And don't forget to add Cumadin that is used in rat poison. The kill that keeps killing. Raptors eat the dead or almost dead rat and the stuff just keeps killing.


    NO ! Rat poison existed long before Coumadin. Coumadin (warfarin) IS rat poison. Vitamin K is the antidote. Coumadin is a trademarked version of warfarin.

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin


    Warfarin (also known under the brand names Coumadin, Jantoven, Marevan, and Waran) is an anticoagulant. It was initially marketed as a pesticide against rats and mice, and is still popular for this purpose, although more potent poisons such as brodifacoum have since been developed. A few years after its introduction, warfarin was found to be effective and relatively safe for preventing thrombosis and embolism (abnormal formation and migration of blood clots) in many disorders. It was approved for use as a medication in the early 1950s, and has remained popular ever since; warfarin is the most widely prescribed anticoagulant drug in North America.[1]
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  • Aussie Bob
    Aussie Bob Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭
    #10
    Re: Wind mills and birds
    TnAndy wrote: »
    I'd hate to tell you how many birds manage to fly into our windows here at the house. Not unusual at all to hear a "Ka-THUMP" and find one laying senseless on the deck.
    Yeah, we get that here a bit too. Even worse when one of the kids leaves the screen doors to the deck open, and a bird gets inside the house. Then the bird goes into a panic flying mode, hitting everything insight. They can be a real bugger to get out of the house. :roll:

    When I setup our 300w turbine in the back yard there was a Kookaburra sitting on the guttering watching the turbine. I was sitting back waiting for the blades spin and relish in the fruits of my labor, and the Kookaburra then flies off the gutter onto one of the blades. The blade drops down and the Kookaburra falls for a bit. I wish I had that on video. It was the funniest thing. :p

    That turbine has been up for around 9mths now, and I've never seen a bird fly into it. But too bad for the bird and I suppose good luck for the 2 dogs we have if it ever happened. 8)
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    How many kookaburras per minute does it take to generate 300 Watts? :p

    Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
    Merry, merry king of the bush is he!
    Laugh, kookaburra, laugh kookaburra
    How gay your life must be!

    The things we remember from our youth ... :D
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  • n3qik
    n3qik Solar Expert Posts: 741 ✭✭
    #12
    Re: Wind mills and birds

    Well, my new residents invited some friends. The pics where of Barn Swallows, today we had Blue Birds. They are braver, they will sit on it as it spins. Yes we had enough wind to spin and make .4 AHs of electric.
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