[va-richmond-general] Re: CRISIS IN HIGHLAND COUNTY

Suggestion one contact National Audubon.  I believe they have material
on this issue based on west coast experience.  Two:  Most birds migrate
at night.  How are flocks of night migrants supposed to even see these
threats. 

Heron329@xxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> Fellow birders,
> 
> We have a potential disaster coming to Highland County.  There was a long
> article this week in The Recorder, Highland's newspaper, that an energy
> company wants to put wind farms along the ridges in Highland County.  They
> are negotiating with the Board of Supervisors for approval of this project,
> and have said that there are at least 50 miles of suitable ridge line in the
> county.
> 
> Bearing in mind that there are Golden Eagles residing year round in Highland
> County, (I have seen two together many times this summer) as well as Bald
> Eagles and many other raptors, here is a quote from the article:
> 
> "Carter {representative of the energy company} said an avian study is
> completed on an area before each farm is constructed. ' We found it's not the
> migratory birds or the song birds that are impacted but the raptor birds that
> are coming down fast for the kill, ' he said."
> 
> Obviously language designed to appeal to the ignorant who still think raptors
> don't deserve to live. I dare say that "raptor birds" that are flying along
> minding their own business would be killed, too, given that there are planned
> to be 12 or 13 of these farms, each with a minimum of 20 turbines, each with
> the hub 150 feet from the ground, and with a blade 112 feet long.  According
> to the article, each blade has a sweep area of 42,000 square feet.  Let's
> see, 12 times 20 is 240, 240 times 42,000 is a very big number.  In addition
> to the eagles, I can foresee minced up ravens, hawks of many species,
> swallows and bobolinks, and despite what he says, many many other species of
> both resident and migrating songbirds.
> 
> Another item of interest in the article is that the sound from the turning
> blades is not bad AS LONG AS YOU STAY INSIDE.  Just what I go to Highland
> County for, to stay inside.
> 
> I am presently at work on a letter to the editor of The Recorder.  I plan to
> call every member of the Board of Supervisors, the Chamber of Commerce, the
> owners of the Highland Inn, and every other person I know in Highland County.
>  I did talk with one native of Highland County, and he was all for it.  A
> sheep farmer, he thought killing off the eagles with the turbines was a fine
> idea.  I am really frightened, folks.
> 
> I know many of you go to Highland County each year.  I hope that we can fight
> this thing, and keep these bird cuisnarts from atop the mountain ridges of
> Highland County.  Otherwise, the only sounds you will hear in a Highland
> County spring will be the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, of the wind farms.
> 
> My husband suggested that some of you might have access to some data about
> the numbers of birds killed by these things.  I need all the assistance I can
> get.  I know many of you have been to my farm along the Virginia/West
> Virginia line.  I am begging for your help.  If anyone has any ideas, please
> let me know.  I can be reached by email at heron329@xxxxxxx,  my phone number
> is 804-746-5599, my fax number is 804-746-5128.
> 
> The address for The Recorder is P O Box 10, Monterey, VA 24465, or you can
> fax them at 540-468-2048.  Letters must be signed, with a phone number where
> the writer can be reached for verification.
> 
> I guess this is not really a bird sighting posting, so to make it legal, I
> will add that there was a successful fledging of one, possibly two, shrike
> chicks from a nest just outside of Blue Grass this summer.
> 
> Margaret O'Bryan
> 
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