This topic grew out of some photos that Martin Pasqualettic, profressor emeritus of Geography at Arizona State University sent me in 2023. His photos reminded me of some photos I’d taken of whirlygigs or ornamental windmills in Toronto, Ontario many years before.

It also reminded me that the term “whirlygigs” was frequently used by Wisconsin’s Mick Sagrillo to critically describe inventions that politely can only be called “wind devices” and not wind turbines for producing useful amounts of electricity. He also described them as lawn ornaments.

I’ve used the term in my books and articles, like Sagrillo, to describe wind machines that are fun to watch, but not truly functional as wind turbines. In Another Poorly Sited Hoosier VAWT Vying for Worst Turbine Install, I charged the Nature Conservancy with installing green bling at their so-called “crown jewel” of their facilities in Indiana. There they installed three Savonius whirlygigs on short towers, calling them wind turbines. While cute, the vertical-axis turbines TNC installed probably consumed more electricity than they generated.

We all are fascinated by the wind and what it can do to animate some mechanical device. This fascination has resulted in some truly clever, entertaining, and artistic devices that move in the wind–whirlygigs.