Bird and Bat Risk Characterization for Cerro de Hula Wind Farm in Honduras
Mesoamerica Energy, Energìa Eòlica de Honduras, S.A.
Pandion is characterizing the likely risks to birds and bats for the first commercial wind farm to be constructed in Honduras. This intensive one-year preconstruction study will be conducted in accordance with international scientific and regulatory standards for ecological risk assessment at wind energy facilities.
The 100 megawatt Cerro de Hula wind farm, located just south of the capital city of Tegucigalpa, will provide energy to one of Honduras’ major load centers. Energìa Eòlica de Honduras, Mesoamerica Energy, is developing this project with a vision rooted in ecological and social sustainability.
Study Design
The field study uses state-of-the-art techniques to gather an intensive and comprehensive set of bird and bat observations at the site once every three months for one year. This will render a four-season characterization of the bird and bat fauna of the site.
For birds, we are conducting five-minute, unlimited radius point count censuses at 119 points. During these censuses, an ornithologist who is experienced in Central American bird identification by sight and sound records the species of all birds seen and heard during the five minutes.
For flying birds, flight height is also recorded. These points are spaced at least 100 meters apart from one another and collectively cover all areas within 100 meters of the planned turbine locations.
We conduct these censuses at each of these points within five hours of first light, in order to capture the period of greatest bird activity. We are supplementing these surveys with nocturnal bird surveys, conducted at a subset of these locations that encompass each subgroup of turbines in each season.
For bats, we are combining nocturnal mist-netting at selected open-water locations scattered throughout the site with nocturnal ultrasound acoustic monitoring using Binary Acoustic Technology AR-125 microphones conducted at selected sites representing all of the planned turbine subgroups.
We are interpreting our field data in the context of technical literature on the conservation status of the species we observe, as well as in the context of behavioral and other ecological information that can be used to make predictions about the nature and extent of any environmental impacts at this site.
Site Characteristics
The Cerro de Hula wind facility site is located in a landscape dominated by human settlements and agriculture. Traditional, organically managed cropping systems, or “milpas,” containing corn, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, and a variety of other crops, are present throughout the site, as are pasturelands where a variety of domestic livestock graze.
Individual parcels are small and interspersed with patches of trees and shrubs, creating a complex and patchy landscape. Nonetheless, the complex terrain, wide elevational range, and the diversity of habitat types within the site support a significant level of bird and bat species richness.
The site is located at middle elevation on the Pacific (southern) slope of Honduras, which is a relatively dry region of the country characterized by highly seasonal rainfall. Higher elevations contain fragments of pine and oak forest that receive significant moisture input from clouds, and hence contain many epiphytic plants and some bird species typical of humid, Mesoamerican pine-oak and cloud forests. Lower elevations contain fragments of arid scrub vegetation and tropical deciduous forest, as well as drier pine and oak forests, with many of the bird species typical of these habitat types.
Resources
Cerro de Hula Wind Farm project page >>
Pandion Team
Caleb Gordon
Greg Forcey
Allison Costello
Rogelio Rodriguez, Zotz Ecological Solutions
Period of Performance
2009-2010
Location
Cerro de Hula, Francisco Morazàn, Honduras
