As the world faces a crisis of declining bird populations, a new study has revealed a surprising source of bird mortality: the increasing use of wind and solar energy facilities.
“Birds are dying as an unintended consequence of renewable energy development,” said Hannah Vander Zanden, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Florida.
She and her colleagues wanted to find out where the dead birds came from to help reduce or offset the impact of these facilities on vulnerable species.
They used a novel technique: analyzing the stable hydrogen isotopes in the feathers of 871 birds from 24 species found dead at California’s solar and wind energy facilities.
