Billions of birds may die each year in the United States, but contrary to popular belief, wind turbines are not to blame.
Former President Trump repeatedly used his prominent platform to claim that wind turbines – an economically sound part of U.S. energy production – were “killing our birds.”
“The wind is going to kill our birds,” Trump said recently on national television. “If you want to visit a bird cemetery, go under the windmills sometime,” a video of which circulated online. His running mate, J.D. Vance, chuckled at these repeated statements.
But in a sea of distorted facts, uncensored claims, viral lies and fake videos online, spreading misinformation isn’t much fun. Yes, as discussed below, wind farms do inevitably kill some birds – All energy production incurs costs. But wind turbines cleverly engineered from airplane wings aren’t to blame for America’s plummeting bird population
These animals will become extinct by 2023
“Other aspects of human life are far more deadly and kill more species than wind farms,” Anne B. Clark, a biologist and bird expert at Binghamton University, told Mashable Much more, and more problems to fix.
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What’s causing bird death in the United States
Many human factors contribute to bird mortality. By far the most destructive people live among us.
“The worst of these are feral or outdoor pet cats, which are estimated to kill up to 4 billion birds each year, including many backyard songbirds that people value and control as insects,” Clark explained. (In the United States, at least, cats may kill more than a billion birds each year.)
That’s why biologists urge people to keep cats indoors. “Just one person keeping cats indoors can save hundreds or even thousands of birds. It’s a no-brainer,” avian biologist Nico Arcilla previously told Mashable.
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The second largest killer of birds in the United States is buildings (and their windows), killing an estimated 365 million to 988 million birds each year. “These kill animals range from the smallest hummingbirds to large owls,” Clark says. (Here’s how to limit the number of birds that hit your windows.) It’s not just about tall buildings. Clark added that any structure or object in a bird’s flight path – power lines, communication towers and cars – kills millions of birds every year. It is estimated that cars kill 214 million birds every year.
Wind energy has been producing more electricity in the United States for decades.
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There are countless more culprits, as they require the collection and analysis of toxins in birds. These include rodenticides, agricultural pesticides, water pollution, etc.
However, the impact of wind turbines on bird mortality is relatively small. The U.S. Department of Energy explains: “Research shows that wind power projects rank near the bottom of the list of human-related bird mortality, causing far fewer deaths each year than from domestic cats, building collisions, or vehicle strikes. ” According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, land-based turbines with huge rotating blades kill an estimated 234,012 birds each year.
Wind farms limit bird deaths
Abundant wind energy is growing, providing 125,000 jobs and cheap energy in the United States.
Fortunately, we can build or operate wind farms to curb bird deaths. “There are various ways we can limit the risk to birds,” Jeff Buler, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Delaware, told Mashable.
This includes locating wind farms away from migration corridors, painting blades black (a visual aid that has reduced bird mortality at Norwegian wind farms by 70%), increasing sound, and using fewer but larger turbines. The turbines can also be turned off during the few nights when many birds migrate through a particular area. Buller and other researchers have found that bird migration through corridors such as the Great Lakes region can be well predicted by looking at radar data, allowing turbine operators to temporarily shut down operations. “You can reduce collisions,” Buehler said.
“It’s much easier to make a false claim than to support the claim with evidence.”
While wind farms are not without environmental costs, they almost certainly kill far fewer birds than the fossil fuel industry, which requires massive mining and burning of fuel.
“Coal, oil and natural gas power plants kill birds at all points in the fuel cycle: upstream from coal mining, on-site collisions with operating plant equipment and electrocution, and downstream from acid rain, poisoning and death from mercury.” A research article in “Pollution and Climate Change” pointed out that Journal of Integrated Environmental Sciences. The study concluded that “fossil fuel facilities are approximately 35 times more dangerous to birds per gigawatt hour than wind energy.” (GWh or gigawatt hour is a unit of measurement of energy production or consumption.)
In the coming months and beyond, you’re likely to see more misleading claims about renewable energy and many other topics. Beware of sound bites and fake talking points.
“It’s much easier to make a false claim than to support the claim with evidence,” Buhler said.
This story has been updated to include more data on U.S. bird deaths
