Tom Gray wrote:
>
> Results from the Nine Canyon wind plant bird-bat study (37 1.3-MW turbines)
> are now available at
> http://www.west-inc.com/reports/nine_canyon_monitoring_final.pdf .
> Executive Summary is provided
> here.
>
> Tom Gray
> American Wind Energy Association
>
> Executive Summary
>
> We conducted studies of bird and bat mortality at the Nine Canyon Wind
> Energy Project
> located in Benton County, Washington. Fatality searches were conducted
> between September 2002
> and August 2003, with a search conducted approximately every two weeks
> during spring, summer and
> fall (March ? October), and once a month during the winter (November ?
> February). A total of 19
> searches were conducted at each of the 37 Nine Canyon turbines and the one
> unguyed permanent
> meteorological tower. Experimental trials were conducted to estimate
> searcher efficiency and carcass
> removal (scavenging, etc.). Mean searcher efficiency was 44% for
> small-sized casualties and 78% for
> large-sized casualties. These rates are very similar to those observed from
> on-going monitoring at the
> Stateline Wind Power Project located approximately 12 miles southeast of
> Nine Canyon. Mean
> carcass removal time, the average time it takes for a scavenger or other
> measure to remove a carcass,
> was estimated to be approximately 11 days for small birds and 33 days for
> large-sized birds. The
> carcass removal rates are higher at Nine Canyon than at Stateline. The
> observed number of fatalities
> and the results of the experimental bias trials were used to estimate
> mortality. Thirty-six bird and 27
> bat fatalities for which collision with turbines or vehicles could not be
> ruled out, were found within or
> very near the search plots. Some of these may not have been killed by
> turbines or vehicles, but are
> conservatively included. Horned larks comprised 47% of the fatalities,
> ring-necked pheasants
> comprised 14% of the fatalities and western meadowlarks comprised 6% of the
> fatalities. No other
> individual species was documented more than once. Two raptor fatalities
> (American kestrel and shorteared
> owl) were discovered within the search plots. Estimated mortality was 3.59
> bird and 3.21 bat
> fatalities per turbine per year. Cause of fatalities could have been
> strikes with turbine towers or
> blades, collision vehicles traveling along project roads or other
> non-project related causes. When
> standardized to the area swept by rotors of the individual turbines, per
> turbine fatality estimates are
> within the range observed at other wind projects in the west and mid-west.
> These results provide an
> estimate of the mortality expected at the Nine Canyon Wind Power Project or
> at future wind
> developments with similar characteristics.

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

Half-a-bee, philosophically must ipso-facto half not-be.
But half the bee, has got to bee Vis-a-vis its entity...
d'you see?
But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee
When half the bee is not a bee due to some ancient injury?
-Monty Python

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html