[Newsbot]

<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="/link.php?id=32929" target="_blank">Only five out of 500 ducks survive tailings pond disaster</a> (click to view)

<strong>Category:</strong> <a href="/news/topic/20-environmental" target="_blank">Environmental</a>
<strong>Posted By: </strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=Hyack" target="_blank">Hyack</a>
<strong>Date: </strong> 2008-04-30 20:10:08
<strong>Canadian</strong>

[snookums]

I don't have any fondness for birds (I actually blame Hitchcock for my fear of them), but this just breaks my heart

I had to rescue a duck once (although petrified of coming close to it, I couldn't let the poor thing just die in my backyard). Overcoming my fear, even temporarily, makes me despise human negligence

[Wullu]

Can anyone explain why the hell a few birds dying is all over the damn news?

If this was news, would not the tens of thousands of birds that are chopped up by wind turbines each year be news?


Oh, wait....

[Blue_Nose]

Wullu wrote:

If this was news, would not the tens of thousands of birds that are chopped up by wind turbines each year be news?

Maybe because one pond killed almost 500 birds in a month, while one wind turbine might kill about two a year.

[Alta_redneck]

Sucks to be a duck, at least these one won’t have to live in sewage lagoons in the fall on their trip back south when all other water is frozen over. I wonder how many of them die, thinking that a floating tampon is some kind of small fish.

[mtbr]

Blue_Nose wrote:

Wullu wrote:

If this was news, would not the tens of thousands of birds that are chopped up by wind turbines each year be news?

Maybe because one pond killed almost 500 birds in a month, while one wind turbine might kill about two a year.

got any stats on that?

[hurley_108]

Wullu wrote:

If this was news, would not the tens of thousands of birds that are chopped up by wind turbines each year be news?

Got any stats on that?

[Blue_Nose]

mtbr wrote:

Blue_Nose wrote:

Wullu wrote:

If this was news, would not the tens of thousands of birds that are chopped up by wind turbines each year be news?

Maybe because one pond killed almost 500 birds in a month, while one wind turbine might kill about two a year.

got any stats on that?

www.awea.org wrote:

The National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) completed a comparison of wind farm avian mortality with bird mortality caused by other man-made structures in the U.S.

The NWCC did not conduct its own study, but analyzed all of the research done to date on various causes of avian mortality, including commercial wind farm turbines. They report that "data collected outside California indicate an average of 1.83 avian fatalities per turbine (for all species combined), and 0.006 raptor fatalities per turbine per year. Based on current projections of 3,500 operational wind turbines in the US by the end of 2001, excluding California, the total annual mortality was estimated at approximately 6,400 bird fatalities per year for all species combined."13

This report states that its intent is to "put avian mortality associated with windpower development into perspective with other significant sources of avian collision mortality across the United States."14 The NWCC reports that: "Based on current estimates, windplant related avian collision fatalities probably represent from 0.01% to 0.02% (i.e., 1 out of every 5,000 to 10,000) of the annual avian collision fatalities in the United States."15 That is, commercial wind turbines cause the direct deaths of only 0.01% to 0.02% of all of the birds killed by collisions with man-made structures and activities in the U.S.

Utility transmission and distribution line, collisions with automobiles and trucks, collisions with tall building and residential house windows, lighted communication towers, agricultural pesticides, and cats all individually kill more birds than wind turbines, but, in a stunning display of hypocrisy, Wullu highlights wind turbines alone as a significant killer of birds.

[mtbr]

We better start knocking down all towers, buildings etc....and stop driving.


The birds are just not safe anymore.

Maybe now that global warming has been put on hold they'll have a better chance of survival.

[Blue_Nose]

mtbr wrote:

We better start knocking down all towers, buildings etc....and stop driving.


The birds are just not safe anymore.

Nobody even remotely suggested that, so that's kind of a dumb comment.

The point is that in terms of bird mortality, a single pond did in less than a month what 250 wind turbines would do in a year (and that figure itself is likely based on older turbine technology, as new turbines are larger and operate at much, much, slower speeds).

There's no comparison.

[Alta_redneck]

mtbr wrote:

We better start knocking down all towers, buildings etc....and stop driving.


The birds are just not safe anymore.

Maybe now that global warming has been put on hold they'll have a better chance of survival.

Don't forget the common house cat.

Quote:

In the United States in 2003, wind generators accounted for only three-thousandths of 1 percent of bird killings -- no more than 37,000 birds. That same year, possibly as many as a billion birds died in collisions with buildings, and electrical power lines may have accounted for more than a billion more deaths, the report said. And domestic cats were responsible for the demise of an estimated hundreds of millions of songbirds and other species every year.

[mtbr]

Blue_Nose wrote:

mtbr wrote:

We better start knocking down all towers, buildings etc....and stop driving.


The birds are just not safe anymore.

Nobody even remotely suggested that, so that's kind of a dumb comment.

The point is that in terms of bird mortality, a single pond did in less than a month what 250 wind turbines would do in a year (and that figure itself is likely based on older turbine technology, as new turbines are larger and operate at much, much, slower speeds).

There's no comparison.

kind of...not to sure are we?

[Chumley]

I guess it should be also taken into account how many times a year the pond kills birds.

[TattoodGirl]

when something of this nature happens, I always find it interesting to read the negative comments of others. What is shows me is a person regards for all creatures and nature in general. It also shows me a persons true inner self and how they respect the smallest of creatures, which generally reflects how a person treats and responds to the vulnerable in society. This is news to those of us, who enjoy being out in nature and sitting quietly and peacefully, if only for a moment to get away from our hectic lives.

[Chumley]

I can see where the thought of it would disturb you Tattoedgirl, but on the other side of the coin, if you have spent a significant amount of time working and living in the great outdoors, it can lose its appeal for some. What you might consider a break from your hectic life is someone elses hectic life. After awhile a duck is a duck, and the thought of sitting on a couch by a fire in a Starbucks can beat the hell out of that squirrel that just won't shut up and let you get some sleep.