What we’re able to do is really harness strength that only citizen science has,” says Ruiz-Gutierrez, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended using the team’s bald eagle maps to identify low-risk collision areas that are suitable for building wind turbines.
Turbines can also indirectly harm animals by altering their habitats. Take whooping cranes (Grus americana). Each year, the only naturally occurring population of the endangered birds migrate from coastal Texas to Canada and back — a nearly 8,000-kilometer round trip — flying over a handful of U.S. states that produce most of the country’s wind energy. To get a better idea of how wind energy infrastructure affects the birds, researchers analyzed GPS location data from 57 cranes tracked from 2010 through 2016.
Turbines can also indirectly harm animals by altering their habitats. Take whooping cranes (Grus americana). Each year, the only naturally occurring population of the endangered birds migrate from coastal Texas to Canada and back — a nearly 8,000-kilometer round trip — flying over a handful of U.S. states that produce most of the country’s wind energy. To get a better idea of how wind energy infrastructure affects the birds, researchers analyzed GPS location data from 57 cranes tracked from 2010 through 2016.
