Development of wind energy facilities results in interactions between wildlife and wind turbines and can lead to fatalities of bald and golden eagles.
Selecting Auditory Alerting Sounds for Eagles Approaching Wind Turbines
One potential solution is to alert eagles to the presence of wind turbines by emitting a warning sound. A team of researchers measured eagle hearing capabilities to determine which sounds they can hear well, especially in noisy environmental conditions. Six bald eagles and two golden eagles held at wildlife rehabilitation centers were exposed to different sounds and the responses in their brainstems was recorded. There were differences in the hearing capabilities between species, and the researchers concluded that sounds of intermediate complexity may be best for targeting bald and golden eagle hearing. These results suggest that the physiology of target species is an important consideration when selecting auditory alerting sounds.
Goller, B., Baumhardt, P., Dominguez-Villegas, E., Katzner, T.E., Fernández-Juricic, E., and Lucas, J.R., 2022, Selecting auditory alerting stimuli for eagles on the basis of auditory evoked potentials: Conservation Physiology, v. 10, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coac059