My weekend wildlife sighting: Wind turbines in action

Never realized just how BIG, other-worldly and quiet wind turbines really are until I suddenly found myself on a wind farm up near Turin, N.Y., over the past weekend.

I took these photos of the Maple Ridge Wind Farm while I was snowmobiling (in three-feet of snow pack, no less). Yes, not a very green-friendly activity I'm afraid. Hopefully I am to be forgiven. I came around a curve out into an open field, when suddenly the fir trees were dwarved by these solitary turbines all over the upstate New York landscape.

Gawking upward at the base of a tower:

As far as the eye can see:

Here's some more information about the turbines that are in use at this site.

And, you can watch the video I took of the turbines in action on YouTube.

Just wanted to share some pictures and my impression: Which is that, aesthetically speaking, turbines are definitely a bit of a head trip when you encounter them. One thing is for sure: the camouflage techniques they use to "hide" cellular transmission towers in residential communities isn't really going to do it here.