BAT MORTALITY AT A WIND POWER FACILITY IN CENTRAL CANADA.

Bat mortality has been reported at industrial scale wind facilities across North America, with tree-roosting bats accounting for most fatalities, but no data exist for central Canada. We quantified rates of mortality at a wind energy facility in Manitoba, Canada by conducting standardized carcass searches corrected for searcher efficiency and scavenging from mid-August to mid-September 2007. We found that mortality was consistent with, but qualitatively higher than that at comparable wind facilities in western Canada. Mortality of the species most commonly killed, Silver-haired Bats, was evenly distributed across the wind facility, but mortality of Hoary and Eastern Red Bats was higher at some turbines than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]