Powerful gusts shook an observation post perched on a hill at a wind farm in South Africa as two monitors scanned the landscape through binoculars.

The Overberg mountains stretched along the horizon, but the monitors — bundled in scarves — were focused on activity much closer: around a giant wind turbine, a small, dark silhouette had appeared.

“Stop turbine 11, please. Cape vulture,” one said into a walkie-talkie. “Stopping turbine 11,” came the reply.

Immediately, the blades of the 150-metre (500-feet) turbine began to slow, coming to a complete stop in less than a minute.

BirdLife South Africa estimates that every year an average 4.25 birds are killed per wind turbine, most often when they fly into blades that can reach speeds of up to 280 kilometres (175 miles) per hour.

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