Bug zapper, bird zapper!

[choff]

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/08/03/ ... -facility/

“we are uncertain of the origin of dark trails following the birds.”

[Tom Ligon]

Grizzly!

All power facilities kill birds to some extent. Birds of prey are particularly susceptible to certain cross T configurations, as they'll bridge the wires with their large wings as they land. That's not pretty either. It can be avoided by providing perches well above the lines, but I've noticed they seem to still be rare.

Its harder to judge the kills resulting from:

Defoliant application along power line rights of way
Strip mining
Oil spills
Habitat loss due to damming.
Air pollution
Water pollution

Balance all this against the effects on wildlife of no power industry. This would likely result in the collapse of civilization, unleashing a starving population of 6 billion humans to eat anything they can find, at least until they all die horribly. I expect they'd soon find that all birds taste more or less like chicken.

[choff]

Wildlife actually thrives around the forest edges human settlement creates, the middle parts are more like dead zones.

[Tom Ligon]

Wildlife actually thrives around the forest edges human settlement creates, the middle parts are more like dead zones.

Well, yeah, we're overrun with deer up at our place in the WV woods, where the cleared areas offer good forage. Even inside the City of Manassas, we've had deer spotted behind our house within the last month, plus rabbits, squirrels, and a large variety of exotic waterfowl including Great Blue Herons and Hooded Mergansers. We have an eagle nest inside the city limits that successfully raised two chicks this year. Its in its 5th or 6th year so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Bms9RpQjU

But 18 miles away at the Mount Storm coal monstrosity, well, the grounds of that thing probably don't have two white deer like we do.