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Wind Farms’ Impact on Bird Population Not as High as Thought, Study Suggests

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A wind farm is a very economical form of renewable energy in the long run. But wind power harvesting has a few drawbacks, as well. One of the major problems caused by wind farms was considered to be the decreasing of bird population, but studies show that this issue is not actually as big as it was touted.

The latest studies show that only the building phase of the wind farm causes problems. The study, published in the April edition of the Journal of Applied Ecology is considered as the first to concentrate on the bird population at the time of operation as well as at the time of construction.

The study is based on 18 wind farm sites in the UK considering the population of 10 bird species. The study was conducted by researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology and RSPB. The report consists of a complete study of breeding bird populations in selected areas on the period before, during and after the construction of the wind farm. They found out that the population species such as red grouse, snipe and curlew decreased in the period of construction. The red grouse population increased back to normal limits after the construction but snipe and curlew populations remained low.

The most important discovery of this study was that only the construction period of the wind farm affects the bird population significantly. The bird population in the period of construction can be maintained by taking a few necessary steps. This is very welcoming for wind farm developers as they are partially relieved from the guilt of bird population reduction. However, the number of birds dying after the construction job ends still remains at a significant level though it is very low compared to the construction phase.

Ideally-placed wind farms can be an economical, productive and environmentally-friendly way to harvest energy.

[via businessgreen]

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