Estimation of Bird Fatalities Caused By Wind Turbines in Turkey

The present study aims to examine several aspects of the interaction between wind farms and birds in Turkey. Between 2010 and 2014, we conducted surveys at three wind farms in three Turkish provinces with the highest wind speed capacity. The total installed power capacity at the farms was 78 MW on 30 turbines. We assessed carcass persistence rates, bird fatality rates (F-A), and bird fatalities around turbines. The carcass detection surveys yielded 27 bird fatalities, comprising 12 non-passerines and 15 passerines. There were 20,154 flights recorded within 0-500 m of all turbines. We used fatality estimation methods to derive an F-A of 1.32 birds/turbine/year for all study areas. Moreover, the F-A for small, medium, and large birds was 0.62, 0.52, and 0.16 birds/turbine/year, respectively. The results revealed that there was a negative relationship (r(s) = 0.444, p = 0.034) between the flight frequency of birds within 0-500 m of the wind turbines and bird mortality. The number of individuals, flight frequency, and abundance of species were not among the direct causes of bird fatalities within the study areas.