JAMESTOWN — American wildlife scientists are working with groups in Kazakhstan to share information about bird deaths related to wind energy development beginning in that country.

Jill Shaffer, an ecologist with the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, and Todd Katzner, a wildlife research biologist with the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center in Boise, Idaho, traveled to Kazakhstan for about two weeks to meet with environmental group leaders in that country.

The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center are part of the U.S. Geological Survey. The U.S. State Department sponsored the visit as part of its Embassy Science Fellows Program.

“Our goal was to work with the U.S. Embassy and civilian societies there to teach and inform them of the effects of wind energy on birds and bats,” Shaffer said. “We wanted to learn what information they needed and how they could get it.”

The American scientists worked with the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan during their visit.

Shaffer said Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world with portions in Europe and Asia. Parts of the country have similarities to the Northern Plains of North America.

Portions of the country are at the same latitude as North Dakota, Natives lived in yurts, which are similar to earth lodges, and the horsemen there used similar bits and saddles, she said.

“It is a grassland on the other side of the world but has had a very parallel evolution,” she said.

While the terrain and climate are similar, the wildlife species are different.

“They have a healthy population of raptors,” Shaffer said. “They have multiple species of eagles there.”

Falconry, using hawks, falcons and eagles to hunt, is a tradition in Kazakhstan. Some people keep raptors although the export of the animals has been banned.

And the area is just starting to utilize sustainable energy.

“The wind energy industry there is just starting up,” she said. “Wind and solar energy facilities are already appearing in parts of the country.”

The growing wind energy industry prompted environmental groups in Kazakhstan to seek information on ways to develop wind energy in an environmentally friendly manner.

“The ACBK is seeking ways to learn about the effects of wind-energy facilities on birds and bats and to share that knowledge with interested agencies and industries within Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries,” Shaffer said. “They want to do the right thing from the start.”

Shaffer said the American Bird Conservancy estimates that about 600,000 birds are killed in the United States annually by collisions with wind turbines. The same group estimates more than 25 million birds die of collisions with power lines, and 5.6 million birds are electrocuted on power lines. The highest number of birds killed each year is the 2.4 billion birds that die by predators, including feral cats.

Additional wind energy development will mean additional power lines, increasing bird deaths from two causes.

“For some (bird) species, the power lines is the bigger issue,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer and Katzner made their first of several presentations in person in Kazakhstan. Follow-up presentations will be made by Zoom meeting in the next months.

Kazakhstan is located halfway around the world,” Shaffer said. “It is a 12-hour difference with Mountain Time and 11 hours different than the Central Time Zone.”

She said this results in meetings held early in the morning in America and near the end of the day in Kazakhstan.

“They are trying to take the painful lessons we learned on minimizing and mitigation efforts for bird loss,” Shaffer said. “They want to do those things right from the start.”