Abstract
A post-construction bird and bat collision fatality study was conducted between April 4 and November 11, 2003, at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center (MWEC), Tucker County, West Virginia. Searches were conducted at the 44 turbines and 2 meteorology towers (1 guyed, 1 freestanding). Twenty-two rounds of surveys (8 in spring [26 days], 1 in summer [2 days], and 13 in fall [33 days]) were conducted at all turbines, amounting to 954 individual turbine searches. Turbines were searched for approximately 30 minutes each, to 60 m from the turbine base using a concentric circle-searching pattern. Two days (or more partial days) were required to search all turbines and the two meteorology towers at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center. A carcass removal and searcher efficiency study was conducted in October.