Use of Innovative Telemetry Methods to Asses Interactions Between Wind Farms and Wildlife

II International Scientific and Practical Conference: Eagles of Palearctic: Study and Conservation

USE OF INNOVATIVE TELEMETRY METHODS TO ASSES INTERACTIONS BETWEEN WIND FARMS AND WILDLIFE: FIRST RESULTS OF GRIFFON VULTURE TRACKING IN SPAIN JUAN M. PÉREZ-GARCÍA* juanmapg@gmail.com

Wind farms have adverse impacts on wildlife including some threatened species The effects of wind-farms on species of conservation concern should be carefully monitored to reconcile renewable energy production with biodiversity conservation

At the end of the year 2016, Spain was the world’s fifth largest wind-power producer with a 23,026 MW of generating capacity

Spain holds many threatened European avian species (i.e. > 90% of European griffon vultures, Spanish imperial eagle) and is an important passage area for multiple species during their seasonal migrations

Southern Spain is a conflict area -Bottleneck avian migration -Breeding population of threatened raptor -Important windfarm production

Wind farms

30 wind farms and 1,040 turbines (1992-2009) 9,822 indvs from 152 spp killed (1993-2016) 85.7% of the turbines with wildlife mortality

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor‌.

Taxon Raptors Bats Passerines Steppe / Farm birds Seabirds and Gulls Waterbirds Rest of birds

1772

2184

% 37.6% 24.3% 18.1% 4.7% 4.3% 4.0% 6.9%

Windfarm-Wildlife Problem Raptor Category Vulture Large Eagle Medium sized Raptor Falcon Owl Total

Indvs % 1788 52.8% 134 4.0% 765 22.6% 632 18.7% 66 1.9% 3385

399

482

170

118

1

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Indicator species

Griffon vulture as a good indicator species of wildlife fatalities in wind farms

Patterns of wildlife mortality in windfarms % CO-OCURRENCE OTHER SPS 90.1% 20.2%

81.7%

83.2% Cadiz (S. Spain)

% TOTAL FATALITIES

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

AIMS

Movements of adult griffon vultures in relation to extrinsic (environmental) and intrinsic (individual) factors by means of high frequency GPS telemetry Risks associated with existing and future windfarms

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Trapping and Marking

12 griffon vultures (10 males and 2 females) were captured on 22nd May 2018 and tagged with GPS -loggers

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Trapping and Marking

All vulture captured were also marked with colour wing-tags

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Telemetry devices

Griffon 2S LF • • • • •

GPS-GSM-GPRS/UHF (36g) Daily 125.000 GPS fixes -1 min interval Accelerometer 5Hz/25s bursts every 1min Barometric pressure Precise “activity report 480” Daily delivery data via GPRS / 3G

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Example of the data provided by the loggers Acceleration, Speed, Altitude, Voltage, Temperature‌.

Characteristics

Results Movements of 12 Griffon vultures 23rd May – 31st July 2018

Breeding colonies

Results 12 Griffon vultures 23rd – 30th May 2018

Large inter-invidual differences Stable flight routes

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Results VSUP 004 23th-30th May 2018

Wind turbines

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

DoĂąana National Park

Results VSUP 006 23th-30th May

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Results

Flight altitude of tracked griffon vultures located at less than 100 m of a wind turbine

Risk collision altitude VUS02 = No fixes close turbines

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Results

Detection of Highly Risky Events

Wind turbines

Feeding birds congregated at 400 m of wind turbines (24th May 18)

Results One marked bird died in August by a fatal collision.

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

Conclusions

Resident raptor show higher collision risk Inter-individual differences in collision risk (feeding strategies) Flight corridors from colonies to feeding areas Detection of highl-risk collision events High-frequency GPS-GPRS allow a better understanding of movements of griffon vultures to build risk windfarms collision maps

Telemetry to asses windfarms-raptor interactions

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! СПАСИБО ЗА ВНИМАНИЕ!!

Co-authors: Martina Carrete* Ainara Cortés-Avizanda Eneko Arrondo Manuel de la Riva José A. Sánchez-Zapata José A. Donázar Collaborator:

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