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A study sponsored by Swedish project developer Eolus Vind AB reveals little effect on birdlife over time from five turbines at Stor Istad on the island of Öland. This year's study by ornithologist Seppo Ekelund found 316 pairs of breeding birds at the Stora Istad site, compared with 331 pairs during the last study five years ago. The difference, he says, could be due to wind and weather variations. Ekelund has done other studies at sites around Sweden and believes it is the correct placing of turbines in open, uniform landscapes rather than any specific turbine heights that determine whether or not wind plants are dangerous for bird life. "The birds are not stupid," he says. "They figure it out." The study will be repeated again in five years.