Bat Monitoring at Wind Turbines

Studying bat behavior around wind turbines is difficult due to their nocturnal habits, small size, and flight agility. Recently researchers have turned their thermal imaging cameras toward the rotor swept area (the airspace through which the blades pass) of the wind turbines, enhancing our understanding of ultimate causes for bat mortality. Based on these studies, it is now known that bats mortality at wind turbines is not just random chance, the bats appear to attracted to them.

Unfortunately, this attraction yields more bat activity around the turbine and in the turbine’s rotor-swept area where the bats are struck.  Sustained activity in this area increases the likelihood of  a direct strike when compared to the likelihood of strike if they were flying through the airspace by random chance. Proposed reasons for this attraction vary; some have suggested turbines look like trees on the landscape while others have suggested that bats are foraging on insects that are attracted to the turbine. While these questions remain open, the fact that we need to increase our understanding of these behaviors is beyond a doubt.  Imaging technologies, from thermal cameras to the video processing need to turn video into data will be the key to unlocking the answers.  Wildlife Imaging Systems has the experience and expertise to help.  Check out an example of our work in the video below.  We can find the bat activity in the hours of nightly video, even when the turbine rotors are spinning!