Saturday, June 29, 2013

Tragic Irony: Turbine 1, Rare Bird 0


As you'll recall, back in May I let everyone know it was okay to kill endangered eagles as long as you were a Green Energy Wind Turbine consortium treasured by the Left. Well, those hungry turbines have made the news again, this time overseas on a rocky & mountainous area of the Outer Hebrides called The Isle of Harris.

Outer Hebrides? Where's that, Steve?

The Outer Hebrides are a little cluster of islands at the northwestern end of Scotland. One might consider it the Boondocks or BFE., colloquially speaking. The Isle of Harris and it's sister the Isle of Lewis are in the ancient lands of the powerful Clan MacLeod. Tinted shots of the island were used as the surface of Jupiter in the film 2001:A Space Odyssey.



Enter the White-Throated Needletail.

Also known as needle-tailed swift or spine-tailed swift,  it is the fastest-flying bird in flapping flight, with a confirmed maximum speed of nearly 70 miles per hour but is rumored to hit up to an astonishing 106 miles per hour. These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They build their nests in rock crevices in cliffs or hollow trees. They never settle voluntarily on the ground and spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. They even drink on the fly.





These swifts breed in rocky hills in central Asia and southern Siberia. This species is migratory, wintering south in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. It is a rare vagrant in western Europe, but has been recorded as far west as Norway, Sweden and Great Britain. And here's where the tragedy begins.

The Needletail is not endangered, but in the United Kingdom it is a very rare sight. In fact, they hadn't seen one there in 22 years. There has not been a sighting of the species in Britain since 1991 when a single bird was seen four times - in Kent, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and finally Shetland. So when one was spotted, bird watchers (known as twitchers) literally dropped everything and took ferries out to Harris to see the bird.

Seriously.

A spokesman for Bird Guides said it was only the ninth time it was spotted in the UK since 1846. It was first seen by two bird spotters from Northumberland on Monday. After that, word went out through the twitcher grapevine and soon more than 80 bird watchers from all over with more en route were watching the speedy black & white avian when.....it slammed into a wind turbine and was instantly killed.

Another victim of Green Energy.



Rest in Peace, little bird. You died so some asshole vegan in a hemp pullover could eat his tofu with a clear conscience under a dim corkscrew lightbulb lit by a windmill.


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