In what bird lovers are calling a landmark ruling, the Montpellier court held EDF Renouvelables and nine of its subsidiaries responsible for the deaths of 160 bats and birds, especially lesser kestrels, which regularly collide with the blades despite deterrents put in place by operators.
Some German wind turbines are actually turned off during specific hours when birds/bats are active and/or have cameras. Apparently, even painting one of the blades a dark color is extremely effective at helping birds orient themselves.
That definitely sounds like something we’d do. I think I read somewhere that the difficulty with painting blades is that (especially with dark colors) it leads to them heating up more from sun exposure making differences in thermal expansion a potential issue.
Huh, so now I know why nobody does it!