Birds vs. Blades?: Offshore Wind Power and the Race to Protect Seabirds
To all those who've ever watched a bird and wondered where it was going
AN OCEAN MYSTERY 4 INTO THE FOG 8 WIND WAVES AND WEATHER 18 CHAPTER 4 CHASING SEABIRDS 24 RIDING THE WIND 30 BETWEEN SKY AND SEA 38 AUTHOR S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 43 SOURCE NOTES 44 GLOSSARY 45 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 46 FURTHER INFORMATION 46 INDEX 48
bove the Atlantic Ocean a few miles from the New Jersey shore a large white bird glides on black tipped wings It scans the waves below and spies a school of herring In an instant the bird points itself downward and plummets toward the water Just before impact it folds its wings straight back It spears the water like an arrow Underwater the bird flaps its wings and kicks its webbed feet through the swarm of fish Diving gannets hit the water at speeds of more than 60 miles 97 kilometers per hour They can stay It snatches a silver fish in its underwater for up to thirty seconds in pursuit of fish beak swallows and bobs to the surface Water rolls off its wings as the bird returns to the sky The northern gannet is one of the animal doesn't bother them explains scientist lain world's extreme athletes a bird known for Stenhouse They re made for it graceful flight and high speed dives Like all But seabirds deep connection to ocean seabirds northern gannets are built for ocean wind could become a problem Soon they may travel Catching the wind on wings that reach need to share their airspace with something nearly 6 6 feet 2 meters across gannets sail else that is made for wind wind farms over the waves and travel long distances with A wind farm is a cluster of towering wind ease The structure of their wings bent at turbines windmills each as tall as a thirty the elbow and tapered to a point is perfect story building Propeller like blades catch for gliding on ocean gusts High wind the wind and spin a generator which
