Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Eagle Studies Conducted
There has been a variety of studies undertaken on birds over the approximately
10 years of operation of these wind farms. These range from surveillance monitor-
ing and ad hoc surveys with no formal design, to rigorous surveys with controlled
designs.
Studies that included a component relating to eagles were:
Generic bird utilisation surveys (to assess indirect effects, specifi cally distur-
bance, of the wind farms on birds);
Collision monitoring* and subsequent assessments including:
-
Assessment of eagle collisions, including anecdotal observations and post-
mortem assessments;
-
Assessment of detection rates for eagle mortalities;
-
Comparison of eagle collision rates with predictions from collision risk
modeling;
Eagle breeding success*;
Eagle behaviour and movements. These studies included:
-
Eagle behaviour around turbines (conducted in 2004-2006);
-
Observations of eagles during the commissioning of the SBWF*;
-
Effect of observers on eagle behavior (conducted 2009-2010);
-
Display period and post-collision eagle observations*; and
Investigation and trials of management actions in attempts to reduce eagle colli-
sion risk (discussed in Sims et al.
this volume
).
Studies marked with an asterisk * are discussed in this paper. The other studies
are documented in Sims et al. (
this volume
), Hydro Tasmania (
2013
) and Annual
Environment Performance Reports for the wind farms (found at
http://www.hydro.
Methods
Collision Monitoring
The purpose of these surveys was to document bird and bat collisions with the turbines
(see Hull and Cawthen
2013
for a discussion of bats), and were a requirement of the
State and Commonwealth regulators. The collision data were assessed for evidence
of temporal (inter-annual, seasonal and other clumping) and spatial patterns
(whether some turbines were more responsible for collisions than others), in the
hope that any such patterns might provide insights into why eagles collided with
turbines, and if possible, to inform management strategies to reduce collision risk.
