What is it about?
Wind power is at the forefront of renewable energy, but wind turbines can present a danger to birds due to collisions with their rotating blades. In the wild, dangerous animals often use bright contrasting colours such as red, black, and yellow together to warn other animals of the potential danger. We aimed to investigate whether copying these patterns could produce a wind turbine that birds are more wary of and so are less likely to approach. By using a touch screen game designed for birds, we investigated this question, and in so doing found that warning patterns do indeed make birds less likely to approach wind turbines! While all patterns tested were better than white, our biologically inspired pattern was by far the best.
Featured Image
Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash
Why is it important?
As climate change and energy security place increasing demand for wind power, it's important to come up with cost-effective solutions to minimise their environmental impact on birds, particularly vulnerable species. Painting wind turbines is one such solution.
Perspectives
"This was a really cool study to be a part of. While we have known for a long time now that many birds have innate and learned avoidance of warning colours, we did not expect such a strong result!"
George Hancock
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Biologically inspired warning patterns deter a passerine,
Parus major,
from digital turbine blades, Behavioral Ecology, April 2026, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arag039.
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