What Are the Effects of the Nysted Wind Farm on Birds?

Displacement

• The Nysted wind farm uses radar to track the movement of birds in and around the turbines. Starting with construction, local birds changed their flying behavior around the turbines. This change in behavior persisted after the project's completion. Flocks of eider, ducks and sea birds fly around or over the turbines. At night, fewer birds flew near the turbines than during daylight hours. The Danish National Environmental Research Institute has two theories. The lights on the turbines may warn the birds to stay clear of the wind farm. Another theory is that the birds naturally fly higher at night, since they are not hunting in the dark.

Loss of Habitat

• The Nysted bird tracking showed significant loss of habitat for diving birds, such as scoter and long-tail ducks. These birds avoided the area of the wind farm. Instead, they hunted outside the area. They continued to nest on the shore. No bird species used the area more after the construction of the wind farm than before.

Collision Risk

• Some wind farms have many birds that fly into the turbines. According to the British Ornithologists Union, many raptors die every year at the Palo Alto wind farm due to collision. By monitoring the birds with radar, the Nysted estimated that 1 percent of all birds would collide with the turbines, with either the blade or the stand. In six years of monitoring, the estimate proved false. According to the Danish National Environmental Research Institute, during heaviest migration ,when more than 230,000 birds traveled through the area, only 43 birds collided with the wind turbines. This represents 1/5 of 1 percent of the bird population.

Migration Barriers

• The British Ornithologists Union theorized that birds' avoidance patterns change migration patterns. They fear that the wind farms become a barrier to normal migration. The Nysted wind farm tracks the migration patterns of birds as well as their population levels. According to the Danish National Environmental Research Institute, the presence of the wind farm did slightly change the migration pattern. Fewer birds flew through or over the wind farm. Many flocks flew around the wind farm. However, the population numbers remained the same.