Opinion: Good news, and bad, for birds

To the editor: OMG! A solar facility kills 6,000 birds annually, a “graveyard” for birds as your article says.

Re “A grim toll,” Sept. 4, and “New guidelines to protect sage grouse,” Sept. 4

But wait, how about some perspective here. Cell and communication tower collisions kill many millions of birds annually, right? So much for that good cell phone coverage. Collisions with buildings kill hundreds of millions more annually — how sad is that?

Then there is the bird kill coup de grace: house cats.

House cats kill a billion birds annually; must be time to euthanize those pesky killer cats.

And what about climate-change-related bird species and habitat loss, due to the effects of burning fossil fuels?

Without a major shift to renewable energy sources like solar — to be determined. Stay tuned.

Dave Davis, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: I think a 12th-grade science project could have predicted that live birds flying into a highly concentrated sunlight beam would likely ignite or explode.

Why is it taking mea culpas and hand-wringing to figure out that this, and other like-constructed wildlife incinerators, have no acceptable place in the environment? Was there no one along the process who might have noticed that this would be an environmental disaster for wildlife, especially avian species?

While energy sufficiency is a desirable goal, may we please inject some common sense into future projects so that more, or even worse, “unintended” consequences do not happen?

Sandra Rakestraw, Atascadero

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To the editor: I recognize the many problems with overuse of fossil fuels and am an ardent supporter of increased use of renewable sources of energy production.

Large-scale solar and windmill farms can be very dangerous for birds and wildlife. The centralization of these huge systems benefits the large energy conglomerates, and are also targets for terror attacks to disrupt energy distribution, I believe.

Decentralization of energy production with more solar systems on houses, warehouse roofs and parking garages, small wind systems for homes in windy areas, and better energy storage systems for homes and businesses makes much more sense.

Unfortunately, I believe the large power companies that maintain the grid and profit from selling energy will fight government subsidies for these logical ideas, even with fees for connecting to the grid.

Dan Diamond, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: As an avid birder, I very much appreciate your coverage that relates to their sustainability. In general, your environmental reporting is stellar and we, who care deeply for the natural world, are great fans.

Lynn Bossone, Culver City

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