Birds and Turbines – An Ornithologist in Poland.

This post originally appeared on the EWEA website. It is a part of my Force series focusing on the stories behind wind energy.

The shadows are still long on the freshly fallen snow when Krzysztof Pietrzak starts out on his daily walk. Spring is in the air here in Goscino, Poland, and during the next few hours Krzysztof will walk 10 km with his dog Ciapa (‘clumsy’). Krzysztof is an ornithologist. Everyday he follows the same route, monitoring the bird and bat activity at the wind farm near Goscino. His primary job is to determine the mortality rates of birds and bats in relation to the turbines. And Ciapa, despite her playful and clumsy character, is a trained professional particularly good at finding bats.

Inevitably one of the first questions Krzysztof receives is; how many birds or bats have these turbines killed?

“In the first few months of working here, I killed more birds with my car driving to the site, than I discovered killed by the turbines.” he responds. The official statistics of this ten turbine farm is eight – 16 birds per year, around one bird per turbine each year. He attributes this to the location of these turbines. They are away from the edges of the forest, marshes, swamps or rivers; places that birds frequent. “Cars, trains, electrical fences, triangular electrical poles; all these things kill more birds then wind turbines.” says Krzysztof.

Krzysztof began working with birds at the age of 15, volunteering for local NGOs in Poland. He credits his love of birds and the natural world to his childhood. His mother taught him sensitivity to the environment and he proudly says that his first steps were taken in the forest. He holds a degree in biology with a specialisation in ornithology, and is further educated in agriculture and physiotherapy.

The growing wind energy industry has been a boon for ornithologists. An unemployed ornithologist is difficult to find in Poland now, quite a shift from a few years ago when there were very few paid opportunities for people in this profession.

“It’s not a job for everyone, it is a lifestyle,” says Krzysztof. “My friend is my dog, the job keeps me fit and I haven’t been sick in years. The most difficult part is the weather. But, I think that I can call myself a happy person, which isn’t very common in Poland.”

Krzysztof spends every day walking under turbines so what does he actually think about them? He says he likes them. However, he insists that it is important to engage an ornithologist early in the planning process to avoid headaches later.

For Krzysztof a larger concern with wind farms is the potential impact on bird migration pathways. It is easy for a flock to go around one farm, but on a long flight from northern Europe to Africa, the amount of wind farms to be avoided is much greater. Typically a migratory flight takes a lot of energy so birds arrive very tired. The addition of what could amount to hundreds of extra kilometres over the whole route could cause problems. Krzysztof admits that studying this issue would be very difficult and so right now it remains only his theory.

The length of the study on birds at the Goscino wind farm is ten years. This means Krzysztof finds himself in the enviable position of having a secure job due to wind energy. He loves it. Walking under the turbines gives him time to think and he dreams of one day canoeing the Yukon River in Canada and joining the Polish Antarctic stations. But, until he makes it to those far-off places, he can be found on his walk under the turbines with his friend, Ciapa, bounding along happily beside him.

Rotterdam Summer Carnival Street Parade

A selection of images from the Rotterdam street parade during the Zomercarnaval. The highlight of the annual festival (Rotterdam Unlimited) is the tropical themed street parade. Countless communities from Rotterdam prepare for months, decorating costumes for the colorful parade. The result is a family friendly parade through 6km of Rotterdam streets that typically attracts over 2000 participants.

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National Geographic Netherlands/Belgie – Verdwaald in de Algarve

This month, the National Geographic Netherlands/Belgie Netherlands edition has an article on the Algarve region in Portugal that I photographed. If you are in the Netherlands or Belgium, I invite you to go and pick up a copy from a shop and check out my take on the Algarve.

Through the Lens, a Retrospective

15 Years ago the spark of photography was awakened in my eye by a small experimental program in Banff, Alberta. At the time, well-known photographer, Phil Borges, was presenting an exhibit at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies called Faces of Tibet. The Whyte Museum decided to run a small program with several High School students to compliment Borges’ exhibit and they called it Faces of the Bow Valley.

At the time I was already displaying an interest in photography and I was selected for this program. The 3 – 4 months of Black and White photography, darkroom work and ensuing exhibit stuck with me and I still credit that course with helping to get me on my way as a photographer today.

Image: Shizuka Shiono

The program was a great success. It continued the next year as Through the Lens and has been running with high school students from the Bow Valley and Morley for 15 years. This year, the Whyte Museum has put on a retrospective exhibit of the work and produced an amazing book.

I was invited along with 4 other photographers to present new work for the current exhibit. I selected images from my Force series on wind energy and they are on display at the Whyte now.

The opening in February in Banff, Alberta was packed and it seemed like the whole community showed up. There were over 600 people at the opening and I had to return a couple of days later just to see the exhibit.

Craig Richards and the team at the Whyte Museum have done a wonderful job. Not only have they helped build a photographic history of life in the Bow Valley, but more importantly, provided many young people with an opportunity to use photography as a creative outlet.

Congratulations and Thank-you!

FORCE – Inspiring a Photography Contest

 

Unique windmill with Halladay turbine in village Ruprechtov, near Brno, Czech Republic. Cyril Wágner the owner and builder installed in 1882 thru 1884 a Halladay turbine, named after its inventor and design engeneer, American farmer Daniel Halladay. The runner consists of a chain of operable vanes controlled by rods, enabling them to be tilted as required automatically according to the wind. Duble tail vane maintained the wheel at the right course. Using this invention, the mill could double its output in corn processing...The turbine with a diameter of 10 meters, weighing approximatelly 2 tons revolves at about 16 meters above the ground. (Robert van Waarden)

A couple of years ago I started the Force project, a photographic body of work that highlights the social, cultural and human stories behind wind energy. The Force project was born from my personal conviction that by providing examples of positive personal and community stories, we can help grow the renewable energy sectors and avoid the worst consequences of a climate crisis.

Throughout my travels I have met some amazing and inspiring people and this project has proven to be an important and timely vehicle through which to communicate wind energy solutions.

I am very proud of the most recent development in this project. Force has inspired the subject of the Global Wind Day and European Wind Energy Associations (EWEA) 2013 amateur photography contest. Everyone is now invited people to submit and share their wind energy stories for a chance to win.

This is a wonderful development because it gives many people the opportunity to share their stories and help inspire change. Do you have a wind energy photograph and story? Drop by their site to enter.

I will be sitting on the jury panel and I look forward to judging the results. The winning images will be displayed in Brussels at the European Commission on June 15.

Furthermore, I will be working with the EWEA over the next few months to expand the Force project. If you want to stay on top of these developments, follow me on twitter, sign up for my newsletter or watch this blog!

Green Roofs Amsterdam in De Telegraaf

For the last year I have been working on a project on green roofs in Amsterdam with some great partners, Leora Rosner and Twinstone. It has been a great adventure photographing rooftops around the city in a bid to make the greening of Amsterdam more visible. Last Saturday our project was featured in the Telegraaf here in the Netherlands. The book is being designed and we expect to be publishing the project early this year.

Here is the newspaper article. Ignore the obvious stitch lines, it just was too big to get on my scanner.

 

Award: Ireland Tourism Bureau for Photography and Article on Belfast

Today Elegance magazine and I were awarded the Titanic Prize for the best Titanic Article from the Tourism Bureau of Ireland. Jolanda van der Ploeg, writer and chief editor of Elegance Magazine, and I spent a few days in Belfast last year working on this article. It was noted that the writing and the photography did a great job of describing the city, inviting visitors and noting the history of the Titanic and the shipbuilding yards of Belfast. (100 years ago the Titanic was built in Belfast).

We are very happy that our hard work went noticed and I am especially pleased that my travel photography drew the attention of the jury and helped make this award possible. Tear sheets from the gallery are included below.


Tear Sheets – Elegance – Images by Robert van Waarden