Intro

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, as of January 2022, there were more than 70,800 turbines in the U.S. Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB).

Source:

"How many turbines are contained in the U.S. Wind Turbine Database?". usgs.gov. Retrieved 2025-02-19

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2023 wind accounted for 10.2% of all energy generated in the United States.

For comparison, fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, petroleum, and other gases) accounted for 60%, nuclear accounted for 18.6%, and renewables (wind, hydropower, solar, biomass, and geothermal) accounted for 21.4%.

Source:

"What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?". eia.gov. Retrieved 2025-01-31

Questionable Claims

Donald Trump has made numerous, questionable claims about the detrimental effects of wind turbines on birds.

In 2019, at a Turning Point USA conference in West Palm Beach, Florida Trump said:

A windmill will kill many bald eagles. After a certain number, they make you turn the windmill off, that is true. By the way, they make you turn it off. And yet, if you killed one, they put you in jail. That is OK. But why is it OK for windmills to destroy the bird population? You want to see a bird graveyard, go under a windmill someday. You will see more dead birds than you've ever seen in your life.

Source:

(December 22, 2019). "Trump Lashes Out at Windmills Again, Says They 'Will Kill Many Bald Eagles': 'I Never Understood Wind'".Newsweek. Retrieved 2025-02-11

At an August 15, 2024 press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey Trump said:

Why aren't we creating great energy plants, great sources of energy, instead of playing this game with wind that is ruining everything, killing all your birds, destroying the fields, all these gorgeous fields? You got windmills all over the place. And you have birds -- you want to see a bird cemetery? Just go under a windmill. You see thousands of birds dead. The bald eagle, if you kill an eagle, they put you in jail for years. And yet, these windmills knock them out like nothing. And nothing happens to the people. Now, it's a green scam. It's a shame.

Source:

(August 15, 2024). "Press Conference: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey - August 15, 2024". Roll Call. Retrieved 2025-01-29

Studies: Bird Deaths Caused by Wind Turbines

To date there have been three significant studies conducted regarding wind turbines and bird deaths: two in 2013 and one in 2014. In 2016 another study was published which compares and contrasts the scope, methodology, and resulting estimates of the 2013 and 2014 studies. According to the 2016 study (entitled "Avian Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities in North America: a Comparison of Recent Approaches"):

Despite variation in the 3 approaches [2013 and 2014 studies], resulting estimates were reasonably similar; about a quarter- to a half-million birds are killed per year by colliding with wind turbines.

A January 26, 2021 article on the American Bird Conservancy website entitled "How Many Birds Are Killed by Wind Turbines?" offers a comprehensive account of the relationship between wind turbines and bird deaths.

In addition to summarizing the results of the 2013 and 2014 studies, the article states:

It's important to consider that wind energy capacity has grown considerably since then. The study by Loss and others [2013 study] reported that there were 44,577 turbines in operation in 2012, while the U.S. Wind Turbine Database indicates that there are 65,548 today — an increase of 47 percent. Adjusting for this industry growth, we can project that approximately 538,000 wind turbine-caused bird deaths occur in the U.S. each year.

The article goes on to say:

However, projecting mortality based on energy produced is more frequently used because it accounts for the size of turbines in addition to their numbers. The American Wind Energy Association reports that there were 60,067 megawatts (MW) of wind energy capacity in the U.S. in 2012, versus 111,808 as of this writing in 2021 — an 86-percent increase. Taking this change into account, it can be projected that approximately 681,000 birds are currently killed by wind turbines in the U.S. each year.

The article also discusses other factors that affect the counting of bird deaths (for example, ).

In summary the article states (bold added for emphasis):

As noted above, our projections leave little doubt that the annual toll in birds lost to U.S. wind turbines is at least more than half a million, and a similarly conservative estimate would put that number at nearly 700,000 birds. There is a case to be made that the number could exceed 1 million. And for multiple reasons stated above, these are all likely to be under-estimates.

Source:

(January 26, 2021). "How Many Birds Are Killed by Wind Turbines?". American Bird Conservancy. Retrieved 2025-02-21

Studies: Bird Deaths Caused by Other Factors

On January 29, 2013 a study of the impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife entitled "The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States" was published on the Nature website. A portion of the abstract for that study states (bold added for emphasis):

Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality. Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals.

On January 2, 2014 a study of bird/building collisions entitled "Bird–building collisions in the United States: Estimates of annual mortality and species vulnerability" was published on the Oxford Academic website. A portion of the abstract for that study states (bold added for emphasis):

Building collisions, and particularly collisions with windows, are a major anthropogenic threat to birds, with rough estimates of between 100 million and 1 billion birds killed annually in the United States. However, no current U.S. estimates are based on systematic analysis of multiple data sources. We reviewed the published literature and acquired unpublished datasets to systematically quantify bird–building collision mortality and species-specific vulnerability. Based on 23 studies, we estimate that between 365 and 988 million birds (median = 599 million) are killed annually by building collisions in the U.S., with roughly 56% of mortality at low-rises, 44% at residences, and <1% at high-rises.

On August 7, 2024 a study of bird/building collision rehabilitation outcomes entitled "Rehabilitation outcomes of bird-building collision victims in the Northeastern United States" was published on the POS One website. A portion of the abstract for that study states (bold added for emphasis):

Avian building collision victims are often brought to wildlife rehabilitators for care, with the hopes they can be released and resume their natural lives. We examined the wildlife rehabilitation records of over 3,100 building collisions with 152 different avian species collected across multiple seasons to identify patterns of survival and release among patients...Ultimately, about 60% of patients died in care, either by succumbing to their injuries or by euthanasia...These findings, along with our estimate of delayed mortality, suggest that overall collision mortality estimates based on carcass collection far exceed one billion birds in the U.S. each year.

On July 3, 2014 a study of bird collisions with power lines and electrocution by power lines entitled "Refining Estimates of Bird Collision and Electrocution Mortality at Power Lines in the United States" was published on the POS One website. A portion of the abstract for that study states (bold added for emphasis):

We conducted a quantitative review that incorporated data from 14 studies meeting our inclusion criteria to estimate that between 12 and 64 million birds are killed each year at U.S. power lines, with between 8 and 57 million birds killed by collision and between 0.9 and 11.6 million birds killed by electrocution.

Regarding climate change, an article on the Audubon website entitled "Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink" states:

Two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise.

Conclusions

Based on the studies and data just presented, it's clear that the number of bird deaths caused by wind turbines is significant. As noted in the Intro section of this post, as of January, 2022 there were over 70,800 wind turbines in the U.S. Using one million as a "ballpark" estimate of the number of annual deaths caused by wind turbines (based on the studies cited), on average each turbine accounts for just over 14 deaths per year (1,000,000 divided by 70,800).

However, the more important question to consider is how bird deaths caused by wind turbines compare with deaths caused by other factors such as outdoor cats, collisions with structures, collisions with power lines, electrocution by power lines, and climate change.

Based on the studies cited, here's a summary of annual bird deaths caused by factors other than wind turbines:

• Free-ranging domestic cats: 1.3–4.0 billion birds
• Collisions with structures: far exceeds one billion birds
• Collisions with and electrocution by power lines: between 12 and 64 million birds
• Climate change: two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction

Adding up the minimum annual bird deaths (1.3 billion, 1 billion, and 12 million), excluding climate change that's 2.3 billion annual deaths.

So, bird deaths caused by wind turbines is about one million, compared to deaths caused by other factors which is 2.3 billion.

For the sake of discussion, let's say that the number of deaths caused by other factors is way over-estimated and it's only ten percent of what the studies estimated. Ten percent of 2.3 billion is 230 million. In this hypothetical example that's a comparison of one million to 230 million.

Let's say that the number of bird deaths caused by wind turbines is way under-estimated and it's ten times more than studies estimated. Ten times one million is 10 million. In this hypothetical example that's a comparison of 10 million to 230 million, which says that wind deaths caused by other factors are 23 times more than those caused by wind turbines.

Keep in mind that these hypothetical examples do not include the ongoing effects of climate change.

Going back to the studies on collisions with structures, about 56% of deaths occurred at low-rises, 44% at residences, and less than 1% at high-rises. Surely no one would suggest we should stop building low-rise structures or residential homes because they result in bird deaths. Then why would anyone suggest we should stop building wind turbines when they result in way, way fewer numbers of deaths?

It's important to note that two of the most prominent bird-protection organizations, the National Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy, both support the development of wind energy.

A July 21, 2020 article on the Audubon website entitled "Wind Power and Birds" states:

Audubon strongly supports wind energy that is sited and operated properly to avoid, minimize, and mitigate effectively for the impacts on birds, other wildlife, and the places they need now and in the future. To that end, we support the development of wind energy to achieve 100% clean electricity.

A July 21, 2020 article on the American Bird Conservancy website entitled "Bird-Smart Wind Energy: Solutions for Sustainable Wind Energy Development" states:

ABC supports wind energy development when it is bird-smart. Our approach entails pursuing proactive strategies in priority regions, engaging in project planning-level processes to improve outcomes, and promoting bird-smart policy. We work with a variety of stakeholders to promote sustainable wind energy development, and welcome opportunities to collaborate on effective strategies.

Finally, on July 26, 2020 a study conducted by the by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) entitled "Paint it black: Efficacy of increased wind turbine rotor blade visibility to reduce avian fatalities" showed that painting wind turbine blades black reduced bird deaths by 70 percent. A similar study is currently underway at the Glenrock/Rolling Hills wind farm in Wyoming.