IRA effect on birds

Every farm and ranch had wind power once. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Published September 2, 2022, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

How will the IRA affect birds?

By Barb Gorges

            People affect birds–individual birds and whole populations–all the time.

            Sometimes, we have a negative effect on birds, such as glass walls and bright lights that steer migrating birds to their deaths.

            Sometimes we have a positive effect, such as growing windbreaks across the Great Plains that encouraged blue jays to follow the trees west. Or we create reservoirs to store water and the ducks and other water birds use them.

            I’ve been looking at what the environmental organizations have to say about the new Inflation Reduction Act and how it will affect birds.

            The IRA should help birds (and people) affected by climate change as it encourages actions for cleaner air. Clean air reduces climate change effects such as severe weather and the timing of seasonal changes.

            Encouraging the switch to electric vehicles is good. Electricity can come from any source of fuel. If the source is a fossil fuel power plant, then pollution controls can be centrally located rather than depending on gazillion vehicle owners to attend to maintenance. I don’t know about you, but diesel fumes from the truck ahead of me at the stop light is something I won’t miss.

It looks like the fossil fuel industries are losing out after spending the last 50 years fighting clean air regulations instead of finding technology to keep air clean.

            Birds will certainly benefit from clean air, but I wonder how much that will be offset by the drawbacks of solar and wind energy production—the emphasis of the IRA. Can we make smart changes?

            If you remember, in 2019, I signed up to testify on behalf of Cheyenne Audubon at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality hearing on NextEra’s Roundhouse wind development. It is located partly on the City of Cheyenne’s Belvoir Ranch property.

            What I discovered was that NextEra was required to show the impact on wildlife of wind turbines and the numerous new roads. Yes, the state asks for certain information, but it seems to me that a state or federal agency, rather than the company, should be performing the field investigations on the public’s behalf, and doing so in much more depth. And the results should be put in context with nearby developments, like the other windfarm adjacent to Roundhouse on the north side of Interstate 80.

            Wyoming, famous for its wind, is slated to be covered with wind turbines. Our ‘big empty’ is also slated to be covered with industrial solar developments. Solar will affect grassland birds, though it will be an army of graduate students who discover exactly how.

            A new study on the effect of industrial solar fields on Wyoming’s hoofed wildlife was recently examined by a Wyofile reporter, https://wyofile.com/report-industrial-solar-disrupts-big-game-movements/. The study shows that the chain link fence required by the National Electric Code kept migrating antelope out, essentially losing that amount of habitat.

            Let’s say you don’t care about birds or other wildlife. Let’s say you care more about Wyoming’s economy. Keep in mind our second largest economic sector is tourism.

During the pandemic years, tourists have discovered more of Wyoming than the Tetons and Yellowstone. They are finding our favorite local recreation areas. The tourists I talk to appreciate our wide-open natural spaces and wildlife the way most of us do. But I don’t think thousands of acres of wind turbines and solar panels are going to enhance the views that tourists come here for, especially when they come from states that are already covered in industrial and agricultural development.

            I still think smart clean energy development is about integrating it with current infrastructure.

            Currently, solar is more people-friendly, the source to concentrate on. No possibility of flying blades or deep vibration noises.

            Think about the acres of parking lots that could be roofed with solar panels. Think about the acres of roofs everywhere, especially the giant warehouses we have in Cheyenne. And Walmart’s warehouse also has a lovely south-facing wall. Or maybe fill in the uninhabitable acres around wind turbines. The Germans are looking at solar canopies over their autobahns, https://www.rechargenews.com/transition/solar-panel-covered-autobahn-could-speed-german-energy-transition/2-1-854215.

            Even our (electric) cars could have solar energy-collecting skins someday. You would go to the carwash to wash away dirt to improve your energy production. Although I suppose then no one would want to park in a solar-panel-roofed parking lot.

            Yes, solar and wind have energy storage issues. But there are many brilliant minds in the world, and the rewards of the marketplace to spur them on. Let’s hope their solutions are bird-friendly, wildlife-friendly and at the very least, people-friendly.     

Bird sound i.d.

It’s helpful to see the western kingbird sing if you want to learn its song. Photo by Mark Gorges.

Merlin’s “Sound ID” uncovers hidden birds

Published Aug. 5, 2022, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

            Learning to identify birds by sight is simple: page through the field guide until you see a bird that matches or go birdwatching with someone who knows more than you.

            One shortcut to the process is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s free Merlin app.

            You give it the bird’s specs–relative size, color, behavior/habitat–and it gives you a short, illustrated list of possibilities. You can also give it a bird photo from your phone (including a photo of the screen on the back of a camera) and hit “Get Photo ID.”

            Learning to identify a bird by song or call is easy here on the edge of the Great Plains. Our most common birds vocalize while walking on lawns and prairie, sitting on bare branches and fence posts, swimming on water or soaring above. I can see robins chirping, crows cawing, house finches singing, collared-doves moaning, house sparrows cheeping.

            It turns out I’m missing the birds that like to hide in vegetation but can still be heard. I’ve always thought that some winter I would sit down with a compilation of western bird song recordings and memorize them–hasn’t happened in the last 30 years.

            But now Merlin has a new feature, “Sound ID.” It came out last summer as part of the free app, but it’s this summer people are talking about it, even our Airbnb host, for whom it sounded like his gateway drug to birdwatching addiction.

            The first step is to download the Merlin app, for Android or iOS. Then open the menu (those three little lines stacked up) and choose Bird Packs. Install the one for “US: Rocky Mountains.” This helps Merlin give you better choices. You can change it if you visit elsewhere.

            Choose “Sound ID” from the home screen. Tap the microphone icon and hold out your phone towards the bird sound you hear. Closer is better, but start recording where you are first, in case moving closer scares the bird away. I found that Merlin doesn’t hear everything I hear.

            Merlin creates a spectrogram of what it hears, and it scrolls across the top of your screen. Eventually, it creates a list of the birds it is hearing, including a photo of each. Each time Merlin hears a species, it highlights the name so you can connect sound and name. Also, if you click on the bird, you’ll get a list of other recorded sounds you can compare for that species, to double check Merlin’s accuracy.

            Early one morning recently I stood on a corner in my neighborhood, recording and watched as half a dozen bird names filled my screen. But wait—great-tailed grackle? We have them in Cheyenne, usually at the country club and the air base, but I have not heard their loud, raucous calls on my side of town. How do I tell Merlin I heard common grackles instead? But I will still give every shiny blackbird’s tail a closer look.

            On the other hand, while I was hiking the Headquarters Trail at the end of July, Merlin told me I was hearing a warbling vireo. I hardly ever see them, so I have never perfected identifying them by sight, but now that musical warbling in trees along a creek will have me considering them when I hear it again.

            And there’s more. You can add these sound recordings to your eBird checklists. You can see if it’s a bird already on your life list. Or Merlin will generate lists of birds where you plan to travel. It can sort them by most common at the top of the list. And for the most competitive birders, it can generate a list of birds they haven’t seen in that area—their target species.

            The Cornell Lab of Ornithology can tell you how all this magic happens. Mostly, it is from the crowd-sourced data from its community scientists all over the world–us birdwatchers.

            Some 30 years ago, Beauford Thompson, a sixth-grade teacher at Davis Elementary School, told me we would have hand-held devices that would help us do all kinds of things. I was imagining typing notes, maybe a digital day planner. Now I use my smart phone for video calls, photographing and identifying flowers, reading books, tracking hikes, finding recipes and cafes, and counting birds.

            Recording birds could become another time-eater, but learning bird songs and calls and contributing to the global avian knowledge is worthwhile. But let’s not forget to sometimes go outside and enjoy the world empty-handed again.