Project title:

Expert report: "Telemetry study red kite wind farm Reinhardswald"

Contracting entity:

Windpark Reinhardswald GmbH & Co KG

Project duration:

June 2021 to December 2023

Raptor protection:

In the Reinhardswald project area, a total of up to 6 adult birds and 16 young birds of the red kite will be tagged. 2 adult birds and 8 young birds have been already tagged in 2021. Fortunately, only one young bird has died so far (as of July 30, 2021). This apparently died in the vicinity of the nest due to predation or lack of food. 3 young birds are still in the area and 4 young birds are currently some distance away in Lower Saxony. During the tagging process, a plastic string, which unfortunately happend often in the nests, was removed from one leg of a young bird. Otherwise, this string would inevitably have caused part of the leg to die off. The mostly low breeding success in large parts of Hesse in 2021 was also astonishing - also in Reinhardswald. The detailed evaluation methods of the telemetry data are determined in the context of the project in consultation with the client.

Characteristics / innovative Solution / Content:

The red kites tagged in the “Telemetry study red kite wind farm Reinhardswald” are made available for evaluations both to the LIFE EUROKITE project and to the expert opinion on “expanding the knowledge base on the flight behavior of the red kite using GPS-supported telemetry data in Hesse”. The LIFE EUROKITE project focuses on the causes of mortality of the red kite, while the Hessian project focuses on the flight behavior of the red kite, especially in the vicinity of wind turbines.

Links/web/references:

More details about „telemetry red kite“ on www.tbraab.at