As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 4 December 2015

Wind Turbines in Southern Israel Would Hurt Bird Migration, Environmentalists Say

The bird migration route through Israel is the second most-important in the world.

Zafrir Rinat Nov 19, 2015 2:50 AM

A company producing electricity from wind-power seeks to install giant turbines in the Eilat area, which environmentalists fear endanger the important international bird migration route in the area.

Last week Israel joined an international agreement protecting birds of prey in Europe, Asia and Africa. The agreement, signed in Bonn, Germany, recommends not erecting wind turbines on migration routes because the birds fly into the turbines and are injured or killed by the blades.

The bird migration route through Israel is the second most-important in the world.

Last week Eilot Wind company submitted to the Southern District Planning and Building Committee a proposal to install 13 wind turbines built by Siemens in an area north of Eilat. The 180-meter-high turbines, with 13-meter-long blades, would be placed one kilometer apart and produce 42 megawatts of electricity.

The Environmental Protection Ministry’s representative on the zoning committee said the region’s ecology and landscape were sensitive and expressed concern that birds flying in the area would be harmed. Representatives from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel said the project threatened an important avian migration route.



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