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dupre501:
The thought of all of this is a bit disturbing.

The BrightSource solar plant in Ivanpah Dry Lake, near the California-Nevada border, uses mirrors to focus and concentrate the suns rays and direct them to boiling towers to generate steam and turn turbines to generate power. Birds which fly through these concentrated rays have feathers ignite and fall to their deaths. They theorize that insects are drawn to the light, and birds hunting the insects follow them into these concentrated rays.

BrightSource is proposing building another LARGER site located along a flight path for birds between the Colorado River and California's largest lake.


BrightSource solar plant sets birds on fire as they fly overhead
CBC News / AP 11 Aug 2014

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/brightsource-solar-plant-sets-birds-on-fire-as-they-fly-overhead-1.2739512

The Peregrine Chick:
For the birds (and the bats): 8 ways wind power companies are trying to prevent deadly collisions
by Roger Drouin for The Grist

Hundreds of thousands of birds and bats are killed by wind turbines in the U.S. each year, including some protected species such as the golden eagle and the Indiana bat. That’s only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions killed by buildings, pesticides, fossil-fuel power plants, and other human causes, but it’s still worrying — especially as wind power is experiencing record growth.  Both the wind industry and the federal government have been under intense public scrutiny over the issue in recent weeks. In late November, the Obama administration fined Duke Energy Renewables $1 million for illegally killing birds, the first time a wind company has been prosecuted under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. (read more)

Here are eight things the industry is trying or considering in an effort to reduce bird and bat mortality.

1. Smarter siting - It’s all about location, location, location. The No. 1 way to prevent bird deaths is to do a better job choosing sites for wind energy development, said raptor researcher Richard Gerhardt: “It’s an issue of where you put the turbines.” (read more)

2. Radar - The industry is also turning to radar technology that could detect when eagles and other birds are approaching. Turbines could be slowed or shut down when the radar, along with employees monitoring the horizon, determine birds are within a certain zone. (read more)

3. GPS tracking - Thus far there have been no reported California condor deaths caused by wind turbines. And at least one company is trying to ensure the endangered birds can coexist with the growing wind energy presence in the state. (read more)

4. Ultrasonic acoustics - Most birds killed by wind turbines die because they get hit by spinning blades. Many bats seem to die for a different, even gorier reason: the lower wind pressure near the blades causes their lungs to explode. Because birds and bats react differently to turbines, scientists are pursuing different methods to protect them. (read more)

5. Leaving turbines off when wind speeds are low - The second strategy that has been shown to help reduce bat deaths is waiting longer to turn on the turbines, until wind speeds are higher.  “Bats like to travel in very low-wind conditions,” Hein said. (read more)

6. Painting turbines different colors - Some research has shown that migratory tree bats are attracted to turbines, but the reason isn’t known, Allison said. One study found that they may associate the turbines with a body of water. (read more)

7. Designing new turbine shapes - Earlier designs were found to attract roosting birds, which would perch and nest inside the turbines’ lattice-style structures, but newer designs discourage roosting. (read more)

8. Strike detection - If a turbine could recognize when it has been hit by a bird, it could potentially slow itself down or shut off to minimize the risk to other birds in the area.  (read more)

Morgan is hopeful that the research at Mesalands and elsewhere will eventually lead to a notable reduction in bird and bat mortality. “Man is good at solving problems when someone is willing to invest in the science,” he said.  Reducing wind development’s impact on endangered species and other wildlife would help the industry avoid problems with the federal government and boost wind power’s public image.

Allison believes there is also another motive: “They want to do it because they are conservation-mined, too. Many people in the wind industry work in the industry because they believe they’re doing something to reduce the impacts of climate change, which many believe is the single biggest threat.”


I encourage everyone to read the full story!!
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/01/02/2-bald-eagles-found-shot-to-death-in-montgomery-county/

Kinderchick:
How wonderful to hear that Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was able to acquire this piece of land and prevent a private owner from purchasing & developing it! ;D

Kinderchick:

--- Quote from: The Peregrine Chick on December 31, 2013, 13:57 ---A fellow birder sent me this link and I thought I would pass it along as a new year's present to you all as I will be shutting down the forum in a few days to start the upgrade.

BirdWatching Magazine has just published its annual list of the year's most important stories about birds, bird conservation, and birding.
2013 in review: The 42 most important stories about birds and birdwatchers - http://bit.ly/1dPj3SL
--- End quote ---

Thanks, TPC! :-* Added this link to my favourites for when the Forum is down for maintenance. Hope it won't be for too long. ;)

The Peregrine Chick:
Hawk Mountain to buy land bordering trail
by Stephen J. Pytak / Republican Herald
26 Dec 2013

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary plans to buy land bordering the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Jerry Regan, president of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association, said Thursday.  It is 25.3 acres of woodland which will become part of the sanctuary, a roughly 2,500 acre wildlife protected habitat in Schuylkill and Berks counties, Mary Linkevich, Hawk Mountain's director of communication and grants, said Thursday.

"There are all types of wildlife that use it, amphibians, mammals, birds, and it's stop-over habitat for raptors," Linkevich said.

It will cost Hawk Mountain $210,000 to buy the property. Earlier this month, the sanctuary received a $100,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources toward the purchase, Linkevich said.  "We've been awarded the grant, which means the state made the announcement," Linkevich said. The sanctuary will buy the property in early 2014, she said.  

It's one of three DCNR grants the sanctuary recently received, Linkevich said in a press release Thursday. The other two are:
- $250,000 to help build a fully-accessible walkway which connects the Outdoor Amphitheater, Visitors Center, Native Plant Garden and Hawk Mountain Road.
- $200,000 for upgrades at the Irma Broun-Kahn Education Building.

These three grants, which total $550,000, were made available through the Pennsylvania Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, the Environmental Stewardship Fund and federal funding sources, Linkevich said in the release.

"We are very grateful to state Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Jerry Knowles for their assistance and leadership, and to the Berks and Schuylkill County commissioners, as well as the supervisors of Albany, and West Brunswick supervisors, all of whom wrote letters of support," Linkevich said.

On Thursday, Linkevich said the sanctuary owns: 1,407.8 acres in Berks County and 1,046.3 in Schuylkill County. This doesn't count the 25.3 acres of woodland in Kempton, Albany Township, Berks County, which the sanctuary plans to buy in early 2014, she said.  That 25.3 acres is privately owned. Linkevich and Regan would not release the name of the landowner Thursday.  It borders the Appalachian Trail and Hawk Mountain Road, she said.

"It's forested with 120-year-old maple woodlands with hemlock groves which provide important lower-elevation mixed forest habitat. Biological inventories completed by Hawk Mountain show the area is used by the pileated woodpecker, black bear, wild turkey, wood thrush, chestnut-sided warbler, scarlet tanager, the state-threatened timber rattlesnakes and many other Appalachian forest species, as well as migratory raptors who use it for stop-over resting and feeding," Linkevich said.

The sanctuary worked hard to acquire the property to prevent a private landowner from buying it and developing it, she said.

"A possible private sale and development on this parcel presents the highest risk to the character of Hawk Mountain's gateway experience and for hikers along the Appalachian Trail, and would certainly degrade its outstanding wildlife values," Linkevich said.  "And this was a matching grant from the state. Since the project was estimated to be $200,000, we had to come up with $100,000".

To acquire that $100,000 match, the sanctuary took a zero-interest loan from Norcross Wildlife Foundation, she said.  Meanwhile, Linkevich said the sanctuary is looking to invest in 59.8 acres of riverside property in West Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County.

"It's immediately below the North Lookout at Hawk Mountain. We continue to raise funds in hopes to purchase development rights. We continue to raise funds in hopes to purchase development rights. We are not buying the property, but a conservation easement," she said.  

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