Check out these cool, eerie infrared videos of bats circling wind turbines in the dark.
(A bat repeatedly investigates and briefly lands on the turbine tower while the rotor spins slowly.)
Here's the story:
We reported today on a study showing that the cause of many mysterious bat deaths near wind turbines is not slamming into the blades, as you might expect (except that bats have that whole echolocation thing, so they are pretty good at locating moving objects in the dark)... but rather that their lungs more-or-less pop if they fly through zones of rapid pressure drop near the blades, which causes the air in the lungs to expand rapidly like a scuba diver surfacing too fast. Sad.
Researchers have been trying to figure out what is behind these deaths for a while, and Ed Arnett of Bat Conservation International and the Bat and Wind Energy Cooperative thinks the problem is exacerbated because the bats are attracted to the wind turbines, maybe because of sounds the turbines make, or because they look a bit like the trees bats might roost in.
To try to better understand the bats' behavior around turbines, Arnett and colleagues at Boston University set up thermal infrared cameras at the base of the windmills (can I call them windmills or is that déclassé?)
According to Arnett, the results of the videos show the bats checking out the turbines. "They go up and investigate the turbines. We've got pictures of them chasing the blade tips."
The videos can't tell the researchers why, but check them out for yourself (more below). You can also read the study that goes with them at the same link.
(
A bat investigates moving blades.)
(A bat investigates the turbine tower (monopole), showing typical 'touch-and-go' behavior.)
(One or more bats repeatedly investigate the turbine blades and tower (monopole).)
(Videos: Jason Horn and Bat Conservation International)
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