birds

Fossil-Fuelled Heat Has Caused Tropical Birds to Decline by “Up to 38%” since 1950s

An uptick in heat extremes, driven by human-caused climate change, has caused tropical bird populations to decline by up to 38% since the 1950s, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis. The study combines ecological and climate attribution techniques to trace the fingerprint of fossil-fuelled climate change on declining wildlife populations. It … [continued]

Photo by Cris Hein; graphic by John Frenzl, NREL.

Behind the Blades: How Cris Hein Helps Bats & Wind Turbines Share the Sky

Like most everyone, Cris Hein thought all bats were vampire bats. That was 25 years ago, before NREL’s lead environmental scientist began researching the world’s only flying mammal. Hein always appreciated wildlife. Growing up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, he liked camping during family vacations and always enjoyed nature … [continued]

Science Wins at the Interior Department

Courtesy of Union Of Concerned Scientists. By Jacob Carter, Research scientist This week, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that it will be rescinding secretarial order 3369, which sidelined scientific research and its use in the agency’s decisions. Put in place by the previous administration, the secretarial order restricted decisionmakers at … [continued]

Bird Fatalities Can Be Reduced By Painting Wind Turbine Blades

If it’s possible to reduce the relatively tiny number of bird deaths resulting from wind power turbine collisions, it would be beneficial to wildlife to do so. To that effect, researchers in Norway studied a potential method to reduce these collisions. Dr. Roel May, a senior researcher from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Trondheim, answered some questions about their study for CleanTechnica.