Flight response to spatial and temporal correlates informs risk from wind turbines to the California Condor

The condor

¹ 

关键词: flight altitude;    land cover;    landform;    Gymnogyps californianus;    soaring;    topographic roughness;    wind energy development;   

DOI  :  10.1650/CONDOR-17-100.1

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Central Ornithology Publication Office

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT Wind power is a fast-growing energy resource, but wind turbines can kill volant wildlife, and the flight behavior of obligate soaring birds can place them at risk of collision with these structures. We analyzed altitudinal data from GPS telemetry of critically endangered California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) to assess the circumstances under which their flight behavior may place them at risk from collision with wind turbines. Condor flight behavior was strongly influenced by topography and land cover, and birds flew at lower altitudes and closer to the rotor-swept zone of wind turbines when over ridgelines and steep slopes and over forested and grassland cover types. Condor flight behavior was temporally predictable, and birds flew lower and closer to the rotor-swept zone during early morning and evening hours and during the winter months, when thermal updrafts were weakest. Although condors only occasionally flew at altitudes that placed them in the rotor-swept zone of turbines, they regu...

【 授权许可】

CC BY