Birds are bursting into flames over the Mojave Desert – and here’s why

originally posted by: MarlinGrace

originally posted by: Bilk22

originally posted by: MarlinGrace

originally posted by: Bilk22
a reply to: Lady_Tuatha

I almost can't help but laugh, yet it's so damn stupid and tragic. " Clean energy and free food here! Get your precooked bird and light your home at the same time!"

They knew this was going to happen, still the liberal politicians were able to sell this to all the good intentioned, tree huggers, wanting to save the Earth from global warming. Sort of like how they sold us on CFLs. "Yeah there won't be any consequences from exposing us to all that mercury." Who could ever have thought CFLs were going to be a good idea vs the ingenious design of the incandescent lamp, is beyond me.

I'll just keep shaking my head.

Great idea there Bilk, lets just do a joint venture with KFC we could get power and lunch at the same time. LOL
Just batter the chicken to your selected flavor throw him up into the light stream and viola' lunch. SFC Solar Fried Chicken, for extra crispy throw it up twice.

Well we already have competition. Harry Reid wants to build these things all over our western deserts.

Ok so we toss Harry Reid up into the light stream I am down with that. But give him a chicken to hold on to first.

LOL Harry Reid is a turkey. We won't need another bird

I mean who can possibly think building these things are a good idea? They're basically building giant, open-air convection ovens. "Nah, won't add to climate change or to cooking large flocks of migrant birds. But the bugs will be tastier when they're flashed cooked."

originally posted by: TheLaughingGod
a reply to: eNumbra

I care less about humanity than I do about the birds, and 1 bird actually frying in the air every 2 minutes is not my cup of tea.

"America’s cats, including housecats that adventure outdoors and feral cats, kill between 1.3 billion and 4.0 billion birds in a year, says Peter Marra of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., who led the team that performed the analysis".....www.sciencenews.org...

There are three of these near the Nevada/California border on the west side of I-15. Drove by there today, if you seen how intense the sunlight is where focused you would understand how anything living that would get near it would be vaporized instantly.

a reply to: pteridine

Just to add on to that,

" Between 365 and 988 million birds die from crashing into windows in the United States each year, according to a new report. That may be as much as 10 percent of the estimated total bird population of the country." Susan Milius and Science News

www.washingtonpost.com... fe80-8866-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html

so.... 28,000 seems to be just the right amount of bird for my tea

I can solve this minor problem. We need to build a machine that blows a noise that humans cain't hear. It will cause the birds to fly away from the mirrors. PROBLEM SOLVED. NEXT.

originally posted by: pteridine

originally posted by: TheLaughingGod
a reply to: eNumbra

I care less about humanity than I do about the birds, and 1 bird actually frying in the air every 2 minutes is not my cup of tea.

"America’s cats, including housecats that adventure outdoors and feral cats, kill between 1.3 billion and 4.0 billion birds in a year, says Peter Marra of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., who led the team that performed the analysis".....www.sciencenews.org...

To be fair dogs are guilty too.

But defensive cat lovers should rest assured — a new study from researchers at the University of Oxford reminds us that domestic dogs are also killers

continued...
For instance, in the late 1980s, researchers found that a single German shepherd on the loose in New Zealand's Waitangi State Forest was responsible for killing up to 500 kiwis.

Read more at article

originally posted by: TheLaughingGod
a reply to: eNumbra

I care less about humanity than I do about the birds, and 1 bird actually frying in the air every 2 minutes is not my cup of tea.

I care about humanity more than birds, humanity doesn't crap on my truck 4 times a day.

I think a better solution is to have a bunch of magnifying glasses focused on ground level boilers to crate their steam.

(ever cooked ants as a kid?). They could put a fence around the installation to keep birds out. I think the magnifying glasses would concentrate the sunlight better.

originally posted by: windword
a reply to: Lady_Tuatha


How could they not foresee this problem?!

The first thing that comes to mind when asked the question "What would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island"; Answer, A mirror of course!" Mirrors can cut stuff, start fires and signal for help.

With that in mind, an array of 300,000 garage door sized mirrors pointing at the sky, yeah, that's going to do some environmental damage! You'd think that they would have looked for a less reflective source to absorb the solar energy for their panels.

No, the mirror is not the panel, the mirror directs the light to the panel. They basically turn every cheap mirror into a solar panel.

Google was pushing this story, I'm not sure why now? The solar plant was built with an artistic nod to the Siege at Syracuse where Archimedes used mirrors to toast the Roman ships. Desert is full of birds of prey but there must have been an environmental impact study done before they built the plant? Hope someone isn't feeding them.