SAFL's Innovative Eagle Project Highlighted in Star Tribune

A SAFL project with partners at the University of Minnesota and beyond was recently featured in the Star Tribune! SAFL Engineers Chris Feist and Chris Milliren are working with a team of specialists and the Gabbert Raptor Center to determine what sounds will best deter eagles from flying into hazardous air spaces around wind turbines. 

According to Project Manager Feist, “A promising technology for mitigating eagle strikes [by wind turbines] is the use of acoustic deterrence systems. However, the effectiveness of these systems in alerting eagles or altering their flight paths is still uncertain… Our goal is to [study this] in a much more controlled environment with a relatively high number of eagles used in testing.”

The team is testing a range of sounds – from sustained beeps to eagle grunts and chirps – to determine which will best deter eagles. Many of the young bald eagles in these most recent tests were brought to the Gabbert Raptor Center for rehabilitation. Once fully healed, the Center releases these eagles back into the wild.

Read more about this project in the Star Tribune’s “University of Minnesota researchers drill down on ways to protect eagles in wind farms' airspace.”

Protocols governing the care and use of animals participating in the study were approved by the University of Minnesota Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and required wildlife permits were acquired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.