Bird Deaths by Power Lines to Be Studied
A $1-million state grant will study how to prevent bird death by electrocution.
Nobody knows how many birds are killed by power lines each year, but people who study it put the toll in the thousands. Researchers led by the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group will study the deaths and seek ways to prevent them.
“It’s not a population problem; it’s an individual bird-mortality problem,” said Brian Walton of the research group at UC Santa Cruz.
Walton estimates that thousands of birds die each year from power lines, including 50 golden eagles and hundreds of red-tailed hawks at the Altamont wind farm.
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