Abstract
Despite the recent popularity in wind farms, the knowledge base concerning their environmental impacts is somewhat uncertain. The purpose of this study was to build a wind farm sensitive index for birds. The index site was applied to the Exclusive Economic Zone in Germany in the North Sea. The index is a unique tool, but detailed Environmental Impact Assessments cannot replace it.
The index was made using nine different factors derived from species attributes. Each factor received a score from 5 to 1. These factors include flight maneuverability, flight altitude, and percentage of time flying, nocturnal flight activity, disturbance by ship and helicopter traffic, flexibility in habitat use, biogeographically population size, adult survival rate, and European threat and conservation status.