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Is 6000 birds a year a lot? It's a serious question, I have no idea what fraction of birds in the area that is. Is it comparable to the normal fluctuation in
by kwhitefoot 7y ago
Is 6000 birds a year a lot? It's a serious question, I have no idea what fraction of birds in the area that is.
Is it comparable to the normal fluctuation in bird mortality in the area or is it so large that it has a disturbing effect on the population?
Of course fewer bird deaths would be good, and zero would be better.
But these bird deaths are noticed because of where they occur. What is the 'background' level, the death rate in the same place without the solar plant?
The Ivanpah installation is on a known migration route, presumably most other such installations will cause fewer bird deaths simply by not being on such a heavily used route. The article was a bit light on background information and I don't know how to find it.
- giarc 7y agoI recall seeing a chart one day that showed bird deaths by source. Death by domestic cats were magnitudes higher than any other source.
- newnewpdro 7y agoThe Mojave desert wilderness areas are not overrun with domestic cats. 6000 sounds like a lot to me. I have five acres near joshua tree, and while there is wild life the only stuff that seems to be abundant are some rodents, rabbits, and reptiles. It's a fragile ecosystem. There used to be tortoises supposedly, but the roads wiped them out.
- giarc 7y agoThe devils advocate view is that climate change will kill them all, so what's really that bad about 6000 birds?
- newnewpdro 7y agoIt's not like this is the only method for harnessing the sun's energy. PV fields for example don't cook the local fauna.