Collision risk and micro-avoidance rates of birds with wind turbines in Flanders

Capsule Local factors can lead to strong variation in mortality rate and collision risk that obscures possible effects of turbine size in wind farms.Aims The impact of bird collisions was studied at eight land-based wind farm sites with a total of 66 small to large turbines in order to assess the mortality rate and collision risk.Methods Searches for collision fatalities were performed under all turbines with a minimum search interval of 14 days. Mortality rate was calculated with corrections for available search area, scavenging and search efficiency. Flight movements of birds crossing five of the wind farm sites were recorded during a minimum of four days per site. Actual collision risk was then calculated as the number of collision fatalities relative to the average surveyed flight intensity.Results Mortality rate was 21 birds per turbine per year on average. Most fatalities were local common species (e.g. gulls) but rarer species were also found (e.g. terns, raptors and waders). Collision risk of gull...