Reply #4: You've shown me how to miss the point. Answered but not asked.

[txlibdem]

Thank you for showing me how to miss the point. I do not recall asking for instruction in this but your post is most effective in both providing zero backup for your position and totally misses the point of my comment to which you were ostensibly replying. Your post did nothing other than confirm that birds exist in the area of your included map. Congratulations on proving the already obvious.

Your incorrect assertion that focusing on one cause of bird death while ignoring all other man-made and climate factors is a straw man leads me to believe that you do not know the meaning of the term 'straw man.' Please look it up again.

Go to the link provided in the OP. You will see a beautiful photo of a river with homes right on the shore. As anyone knows who has ever looked into real estate prices with beach front, lake front and river frontage these houses are fantastically expensive. I submit that these homeowners simply do not want to look at a wind turbine farm. They want their view kept only for themselves and no person should derive any benefit from that area except the privileged few. Notice the similarities between this anti-wind power effort and that of the Kennedy's and other residents of that expensive area fighting to keep wind power away from their wealthy estates. As they provide zero facts on the number of birds found but simply call for a moratorium I find parallels here that are unmistakable. Finally, note that their group is not called 'Save the Birds and Bats' it is called 'Save the River.' That should tell you their true motivations. Attacking wind turbines is the real straw man in all of this. Researching further, I find that during the 6 month study they found that 7 birds were killed per wind turbine and a total of 602 birds were killed in the area of the wind farm. 602 sounds like a lot but we need to put that number in perspective. How much damage to bird populations are the other causes responsible for.

Focusing on one possible cause of bird and bat mortality and ignoring every other cause renders their argument baseless. How much damage to the bird population is caused by climate change, something that extensive implementation of wind power will help mitigate? Studies have shown that bird populations both in the Americas and in Europe and Africa are already suffering from the effects of climate change.

The farther birds journey in their migrations, the less likely they are to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate, new research suggests.

...snip...

Being slow to change in response to warming temperatures could have serious repercussions for long-distance migrant birds. This same research group has shown that plants are blooming earlier in Massachusetts than they did in the past. It appears that the short-distance migrants are keeping pace with this changing environment. However, long-distance migrants are being left behind; as temperatures continue to warm, they will probably experience environments increasingly different from the ones for which they are adapted. Other researchers have already noted that some long-distance migrant birds returning from African wintering areas to breed in Europe are now mistimed with their insect food supply. The inability of some birds to adapt to rapid climate change may be an important factor in some of the declines among songbird populations that have been documented in recent years.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620115925.htm

This clearly shows that climate change is a real danger to birds and the "Save our expensive view" folks are completely ignoring it. But aren't there other causes of bird death?

Utility transmission and distribution lines, the backbone of our electrical power system, are responsible for 130 to 174 million bird deaths a year in the U.S.1 Many of the affected birds are those with large wingspans, including raptors and waterfowl.

...snip...

Collisions with automobiles and trucks result in the deaths of between 60 and 80 million birds annually in the U.S.3

...snip...

Agricultural pesticides are "conservatively estimated" to directly kill 67 million birds per year.10

http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html

So, when we get a little perspective on the issue we see that 602 birds killed in 6 months, or a little over 1200 a year pales to insignificance when compared to other causes of bird mortality, which amount to many millions of deaths per year.

Again, this group seems to be suspect. Their claim that 1200 bird deaths is a nightmare scenario while ignoring the fact that 130 million bird deaths are caused by transmission lines alone is very telling. Climate change affects us all. Your expensive private river front view does not help me or anyone but a select few. I vote to save the planet.