COLLISION DATA FROM JAPAN UNDERLINES WINDFARM THREAT TO RAPTORS, GULLS AND OTHER BIRDS

Report  highlights windfarm threat to Japan's birds (image: Ann Williams)

AN important report from Japan has again underlined the threat that wind turbines pose to birds.

The study conducted by the Wild Bird Society of Japan - a sister-organisation to the RSPB and a member of BirdLife International - recorded 569 birds had died from colliding with wind turbines of which there are 2,000-plus installed across the county. 

Most  of the victims - 168 - were raptors. These included 92 black kites  and 58 white-tailed sea-eagles.

Second hardest hit were gulls, with 68 fatalities, and corvids with 43. 

This supports the hypothesis that large predators and scavengers are at particularly high risk of collision because of their feeding behaviour.

By necessity, they fly with their heads down, surveying the land beneath them for any sign of food - oblivious to larger obstacles higher up.

Two thirds of these fatalities were discovered through government surveys while the rest were reported by passers-by. 

Writes Tatsuya Ura, senior WBSJ research biologist:"Further discoveries of the devastating effect of wind farms on grey-faced buzzard, oriental honey buzzard, Japanese buzzard, greater white-fronted goose and Tundra swan were discovered through additional radar surveys conducted by the WBSJ.

"The danger is clear to see - and there are even more wind farms being constructed, both on land and out to sea. 

"Migratory birds are particularly threatened by such structures as they often travel in large flocks along set routes. 

"Any obstacles blocking their flight paths will not only cause fatalities, but may force them to burn crucial energy reserves diverting their route, or abandon much-needed rest stops altogether."

Since 2010, the WBSJ has been working with the private sector to influence the location of offshore wind farms at the planning stage, seeking to ensure making sure they will not be located in the path of migratory flyways or near important bird habitats.

The challenge  is not confined  to wind farms. 

The government and private sector are now planning new, heavyweight power lines carrying electricity from wind farms in northern Japan. 

Powerlines, like wind farms, are a big collision risk for large birds such as cormorants, swans, herons and cranes.

***

* Available as an ebook via Kindle: 

A Fault to Nature: Birds, Migration and The Problem with Windfarms