Is the focus on raptors and migratory species at wind energy facilities justified?
By Vonica Perold1, Samantha Ralston-Paton2 and Peter G Ryan1
1 FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology (University of Cape Town)2 BirdLife South Africa
Presentation to Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife ImpactsStirling, Scotland, August 2019
The diversity of birds killed by wind turbine collisions in South Africa
If everything is importantnothing is.
Which species are most at risk from turbine collisions?⇢ Planning, EIA, research & conservation action.
For example: Thaxter et al. 2017
Meta- analysis of 93 terrestrial WEFs
• Asia: 2 • Australasia: 2• South America: 1• Africa: 1 (1 turbine!)
To date research focused on Europe and North America
Annual installed wind energy capacity by region:
Installed Renewable Energy Capacity
CSP 400MW
PV 2 559 MW
Wind 2 049 MW
Hydro (740 MW)
Adapted from:: http://resourceirena.irena.org/gateway/countrySearch/?countryCode=ZAF
Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP)
11 500 –17 000 MW
by 2030
South Africa’sIntegrated Resource Plan
Wind15%
Other renewabl
esOther
(e.g. coal &
nuclear)
2030targets Approx. 3800 turbines?
Wind Energy: Installed Capacity
Birds at risk in USA and Europe
Fatalities vs species exposed to risk:46% USA (AWWI, 2019).18-21% Tasmania, Australia* (Hull et al. 2013)
*2 WEFS
• Limited migration of terrestrial birds in Southern Hemisphere. • South Africa - end of migratory route, no “bottlenecks”.• Can we expect to see fewer fatalities, and a smaller proportion of
species exposed to risk killed?
Raptors
Migratory species
Jenkins et al. 2015
Avifaunal specialists: Monitoring reports
Update database, analysis, information feedback
Wind farm developers and operators
• Summarise turbine collision fatality data
• Systematic searches & incidental (<3%)• Fatality rate estimates*
*not weighted by bird size or type
WEF Planning & EIAs,
conservation, research.
Methods
20 Wind Energy Facilities825 Turbines
5 Biomes
Perold et al, in prep
Monitoring:2014 – 2018
3-48 months monitoring1101 “turbine years”
Mean search radius of 187±32 m
Jenkins et al. 2015
Wind energy facility (WEF) specs:Mean capacity per WEF: 91 ± 37.4 MW Turbines per WEF: 7-96Hub height: 87.6 ±9 .8 mRotor diameter: 103 ± 10.7 m
Post
Species potentially exposed to risk:
Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP, sabap2.adu.org.za),
Pre-construction monitoring
(12 WEFS)
Post-construction monitoring
(20 WEFS)
Walked transects, vehicle-based transects, focal site surveys, vantage point surveys and incidental observations (Jenkins et al. 2015).
Quarter-degree grid cell Citizen Science ProjectMultiple years
Vagrants, out of range
species & seabirds
Cumulative number of species likely to be killed:
• iNEXT package (R package for rarefaction and extrapolation of species diversity, Hsieh et al. 2016).
• Species accumulation curve• Per WEF site and for the region.
Species exposed to risk
Carcasses
Species lists:
• Crude rate: 1.0±0.6 birds/turbine/yr16 WEFs with at least 12 months of monitoring.
• Estimated (Huso 2011):
– 4.6±2.9 birds/turbine/yr– 2.0±1.3 birds/MW/yr
• Within range reported from USA and Europe– (e.g. Krijgsfeld et al. 2009 Loss et al. 2013,;
Everaert 2014; Aschwanden et al. 2018 Welcker et al. 2017).
Results: Fatality rates
Common name Species name No.Bustard, Ludwig’s Neotis ludwigii 1Quail, Common Coturnix coturnix 6Stork, White Ciconia ciconia 6Swallow, Barn Hirundo rustica 3Cuckoo, Great Spotted Clamator glandarius 1Cuckoo, Jacobin Clamator jacobinus 1Buzzard, Common (Steppe) Buteo buteo 6
Eagle, Booted Hieraaetus pennatus 15
Falcon, Amur Falco amurensis 35Kestrel, Lesser Falco naumanni 2Kite, Yellow-billed Milvus aegyptius 6Swallow, Greater Striped Cecropis cucullata 4Swift, Common Apus apus 11Swift, Horus Apus horus 5Swift, White-rumped Apus caffer 28Tern, Common Sterna hirundo 2
Carcasses:19% of all carcasses migrants
Species:• 1 threatened species • 74 potentially exposed• 16 species (22%) killed.
• Migrants not more likely to be killed than resident species– c 2=1.86, df=1, P=0.12
Results: Migrant fatalitiesEndangered
List would include more (raptor) species if we used:
to define migratory species.
* as per Hockey et al. (2005), includes intra-African migrants, partial migrants & long-distance migrants
Carcasses• 36% of carcasses found
– 20.6% Accipitridae (only family killed at all WEFs)
• 0.25 raptors/turbine/year (not adjusted for detection)
Results: Raptor fatalities
Common name Species Status(global,
regional)
Endemic No.
Buzzard, Jackal Buteo rufofuscus (*) 81Eagle, Martial Polemaetus bellicosus VU, EN 4Eagle, Verreaux’s Aquila verreauxii LC, VU 6Falcon, Lanner Falco biarmicus LC, VU 6Harrier, Black Circus maurus VU, EN (*) 6Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius VU, VU 1Vulture, Cape Gyps coprotheres EN, EN 10
Species• 25 species killed• 2 near endemic• 6 regionally threatened.
Raptor carcasses:
• Endangered• ~ 8 800 mature adults
• Development pressure in Eastern Cape (Renewable Energy Development Zones)
Cape Vulture(Gyps coprotheres)
Old world vultures & WEFs elsewhere: • Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)• Eurasian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)(Carrete et al. 2009, Carrete et al. 2012, Ferrer et al. 2012, Martenez-Abrain et al. 2012).
Image credit: Warwick Tarboton
Black HarrierCircus maurus
• Endemic• Endangered • < 1 000 mature individuals
• Unexpected!
Image credit: Steve Garvie
• Vulnerable• Large overlap with wind resource• <10 000 mature individuals in SA
Plus • fatalities due to electrocution!
Eagles & WEFs elsewhere: • Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) (e.g. Smallwood & Thelander, 2008; Smallwood, 2013)• White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) (e.g. Hotker, Thomsen & Jeromin, 2006) • Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) (Pagel et al. 2013) • White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) (Smales and Muir, 2005)
Verreauxs’ Eagle (Aquila verreauxii)
Image credit: Rob Simmons
Martial Eagle(Polemaetus bellicosus)
• Endangered• ~ 800 pairs in SA
No. species potentially
exposed
No. species killed
Diurnal raptors: 36 25 (69%)Accipitridae: 29 16 (55%)Falconidae: 9 7 (86%)
3 species:• Jackal Buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus)• Rock Kestrel (Falco rupicolus)• Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis)
20% of all carcasses found
Results: Raptor fatalities
Photo credit: PimStouten
Buteo species at risk elsewhere:• Common Buzzard, B. buteo (Europe, Hötker et al. 2006; Ferrer et al. 2012; Welcker et al. 2017)• White-tailed Hawk, B. albicaudatus (Latin America, Ledec et al. 2011) • Red-tailed Hawks, B. jamaicensis (USA, Smallwood & Thelander 2008).
Jackal Buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus):
81 fatalities.
Almost 10% of all carcasses found.
60% of raptor carcasses
46% of all Accipitridae fatalities.
0.1 /turbine/year.Not threatened.
Endemic.
But....
• Data not adjusted for size or group
• Carcasses persistence biased towards larger birds & raptors– easier to detect – longer persistence– raptors less palatable
(Smallwood 2007; Urquhart et al. 2015)
* Families not affected mostly have few species.
A large diversity of species have been killed
No. potentially exposed
No. killed
Total species 440 130 (30%)(Range: 1-37%)
Total families* 86 46 (53%)
Apodidae (swifts) 7 6 (86%)
Galliformes (e.g. francolin, spurfowl) 7 5 (71%)
Columbidae (doves and pigeons) 11 6 (55%)
Alaudidae (larks) 16 8 (50%)
Sarothruridae (flufftails) 3 3 (100%)
• Fatalities included some surprises, and
• Species not previously recorded:– on site: 29– in the area: 5 – secretive or hard to identify species
Image credit: Chris Krog
42% of species in an area likely to be killed
iNEXT package (R package for rarefaction and extrapolation of species diversity, Hsieh et al. 2016).
Species richness: 128
Sample completeness: 0.94
Estimated no. spp: (± SE, 95% CI)
183.6 ± 22.1 (154.3 - 245.7)
440 species potentially exposed
Risk of collisions not necessarily
= Population
impacts impacts.
Common species may indicate that rarer species in same group may also be at risk.
Conclusion• Migrants not necessarily a priority in all regions. • Raptors should be a priority (despite biases in data)– Top predators, low densities, killed in relatively large numbers
& many threatened(e.g. Barrios & Rodriquez 2004; Smallwood & Thelander 2008; Beston et al. 2016; Watson et al. 2018).
– Prioritise endemic raptors for research?
• Don’t overlook other threatened species & habitats.
White-winged FlufftailSarothrura ayresi
Critically EndangeredPopulation size: 50-249
“one of the worlds rarest birds”
Image credit: Warwick Tarboton
Thank you!Co-authors: Vonica Perold, Prof. Peter Ryan
Birds and Renewable Energy Specialist Group: Andrew Jenkins, Andrew Pearson, Alvaro Camiña, Birgit Erni, Chris van Rooyen, Craig Whittington-
Jones, David Allan, Hanneline Smit-Robinson, Jon Smallie, Kevin Shaw, Lourens Leeuwner, Michael Brooks, Phoebe Barnard, Peter Ryan and
Theoni Photopoulou.Wind energy facilities for sharing the reports.
Department of Environmental Affairs
Julia Simmons
Contact: [email protected]