Relationships between Weather, Raptor Migration, and Wind Turbine Mortality: Implications of a Changing Global Climate

Anna L. Connington 1,2 (annaconnington@u.boisestate.edu), Jorge García-Macía 3, Mar Sánchez 3, Alejandro Onrubia 3, Miguel Ferrer 3,4, Virginia Morandini 4, Gregory S. Kaltenecker 5, Jim Belthoff 1,2, Jay D. Carlisle 1,5, Todd E. Katzner 6

1 Boise State University Department of Biological Sciences, Boise, Idaho, USA.

2 Boise State University Raptor Research Center, Boise, Idaho, USA.

3 Fundación Migres, Tarifa, Cádiz, Spain.

4 Doñana Biological Station EBD-CSIC, Seville, Spain.

5 Boise State University Intermountain Bird Observatory, Boise, Idaho, USA.

6 U.S. Geological Survey, Boise, Idaho, USA.

Wind energy facilities pose serious threats to volant wildlife, especially raptors. There have been a number of studies discussing the separate impacts to raptor populations from development of turbines or changes in weather. However, there have been fewer studies analyzing impacts that weather may have on turbine collision risk itself. This gap in understanding undermines mitigation designed to minimize fatalities. The Strait of Gibraltar, the site of my research, is the most important migratory pathway in western Europe and hosts a large concentration of both birds and turbines. Therefore, it is an ideal setting to evaluate interactions between collision risk and weather. I hypothesize that (1) migratory movement and (2) weather both impact the number of avian fatalities at wind energy facilities in this region. I will use fatality surveys and migratory count and weather data from the past 20 years in southern Spain to test these hypotheses. By identifying weather conditions that contribute to elevated collision risk and that influence migratory movement, this work allows for identification of more comprehensive and effective mitigative actions to reduce raptor fatalities at wind energy facilities.