Bsu Research Could Help Save Raptors Warning Bands On Turbines May Protect California Eagles

Boise State University research could save the lives of golden eagles in California this year, and raptors in other states in years to come.

Propeller-like wind turbines that generate electricity in northern California are whacking dozens of eagles to death as their blades spin on windy ridges.

The devices consist of three 54-foot-long blades mounted on a 100-foot-tall pedestal.

For a year, scientists at Boise State’s Raptor Research Center have been studying the eyesight of 18 kestrels: sparrow hawks the size of pigeons.

The aim is to determine patterns that can be painted on blades so birds will not fly into them.

The California Energy Commission estimates an average 57 golden eagles are killed each year at the wind-turbine field at Altamont Pass, 50 miles east of San Francisco, which has 7,000 turbines.

This spring, black bands will be painted on the blades of nine turbines to see if birds avoid them.

Boise State researchers suspect the birds do not see the unstriped blades, whose tips revolve at 200 miles per hour.

The experimenters will fly trained red-tailed hawks near the painted blades to see if the birds avoid them.

“We have no expectation of losing birds to these turbines. We think they’ll fly around them,” said Hugh McIssac, a BSU biology professor and principal investigator.

If it works, other blades at Altamont and on wind generators elsewhere in the world will be striped.

The Boise State research costs $600,000 and is paid for by Kenetech Corp. a San Francisco-based wind turbine manufacturer that built 3,500 of the turbines at Altamont.

Scientists determined the birds could discern patterns of lines. The bands that will be painted on the blades will be six inches apart at the wing tips so they can be seen by birds.

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