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Abstract
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) mortality associated with wind energy turbines and infrastructure is under-reported and weakly substantiated in the published literature. I report two cases of mortality at a utility-scale renewable energy facility near Palm Springs, California. The facility has been in operation since 1984 and included 460 65KW turbines mounted on 24.4 m or 42.7 m lattice-style towers with 8 m rotor diameters. One mortality event involved a juvenile eagle that was struck and killed by a spinning turbine blade on 31 August, 1995. The tower was 24.4 m high. The other involved an immature female that was struck by a spinning blade on another 24.4 m tower on 17 April, 1997 and was later euthanized due to the extent of internal injuries. Other raptor mortalities incidentally observed at the site, and likely attributable to turbines, included three Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) found near turbines.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Golden Eagle mortality at a utility-scale wind energy facility near Palm Springs, California |
| Series title | Western Birds |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 2015 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Western Field Ornithologists |
| Publisher location | Del Mar, CA |
| Contributing office(s) | Southwest Biological Science Center |
| Description | 5 p. |
| First page | 76 |
| Last page | 80 |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Other Geospatial | San Gorgonio Pass |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |