Paint it black! Will windfarm initiative in Wyoming reduce windfarm collision threat to eagles and other birds?

     

Could a single black-painted turbine blade reduce windfarm collision threat to birds? 

FOLLOWING a precedent set in Europe, American energy company PacifiCorp is experimenting with a windfarm in Wyoming by painting black a single blade of each of 36 wind turbines.

This is its initiative in seeking to reduce bird collisions.

the company has partnered with scientists at Oregon State University and elsewhere to establish whether painted blades might reduce the number of strikes by birds such as eagles.

Research in Smøla, Norway, documented a nearly 72 per cent decline in collisions by white-tailed eagles as a result of painting just one turbine blade in black. 

This is thought to  disrupt what otherwise may appear to the bird as a uniform airspace, making the turbine more visible and helping trigger avoidance behaviour.

But the pioneering Norwegian project only involved one turbine.

This American venture will be far more comprehensive.

* Photo: PacifiCorp