Conservation initiatives and strictly protected birds of prey such as the Red Kite, Milvus milvus prove as a barrier to wind power development not only in Germany. As in Germany, the situation is in Austria. Near the new wind farm which is under construction on the outskirts of Grosskrut, Mistelbach district, an ornithologist in Austria discovered the endangered raptor. Right through the of the almost finished towers of the wind farm flew a Red Kite, Milvus milvus. As well as the Red Kite a Black Kite, Milvus migrans, was hovering over the fields around Grosskrut. Later the ornithologist could spot even a young bird of the Red Kite.
Not only in Germany, people discover a new view to nature. The ornithologist described above stood up for years against the construction of wind turbines and has therefore developed to a conservationists. Consequently, evidence photos and descriptions of the observations were sent to the Birds organization “Bird Life”.
The Red Kite was already the subject of frequent blogs on www.bird-lens.com. Thus e.g. here or here. The Red Kite is a characteristic bird of Central European landscapes. Although about 65% of the world’s population of the Red Kites are found in Germany, Austria is home to a healthy population, too. For full-time ornithologists sightings of the kites are not uncommon. Although the Red Kite was formerly located mainly in eastern Czech Republic to the Marchauen, the bird spreads out now in the neighborhood of the WEinviertel (Wine quarter) near Vienna. One commenter in a local newspaper wrote: “… Hopefully the topic will not ended by a trigger-happy hunter or farmer laying poison bait. Namely, these murderous companions for large birds are more dangerous than the Windradln (wind turbines). ”
This, is of course, is hard to answer …..