Wind power is not a major cause of bird death

Superfact 17: Fossil fuels kill a lot more birds per gigawatt hour than wind power does. Cats, windows, cars, poison and powerlines are examples of things that kill a lot more birds than wind power does. Wind power killing birds is not the huge environmental problem it is often made out to be.

Wind power killing birds is often mentioned as a slam dunk environmentally based argument against wind power and evidence for the hypocrisy of environmentalists. This is misguided. Wind power killing birds is a real problem and it should be addressed, and it is being addressed. No energy source comes without environmental problems. However, wind turbines account for only a small fraction of overall bird deaths compared to other human causes. It is not a good argument against wind power, and it does not demonstrate any hypocrisy by environmentalists. In fact, a study made in 2012 (overview here) concluded that fossil fuels killed 24 million birds per year in the US, which correspond to 35 times more birds per GWh than wind power kills according to this study. Even though this study and other similar studies are estimates based on assumptions that are far from perfect, they are good indicators that replacing fossil fuels with wind power likely saves birds rather than kills them.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

In any case, as this Wikipedia article states, collisions with wind turbines are a minor source of bird mortality compared to other human causes. According to the graph below cats kill 5,600 times more birds than wind power and collisions with powerlines kills 99 times more birds than wind power, and yet we rarely discuss these problems. Even though these numbers are estimates they are mostly confirmed by other studies and analysis, as this overview from MIT and this analysis by Hannah Richie shows. The numbers aren’t the same, but they make the same point. FYI Hannah Richie is the deputy editor and lead researcher at Our World in Data. Our World in Data is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems. They are associated with Oxford University and is one of the most respected statistics, analysis and research organizations in the world.

From Wikipedia: Universiteit van Nederland, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
An alternative graph taken from Hannah Richie / Our World in Data, using alternative sources essentially showing the same thing. Sources: Loss et al. (2015), (2013), US Fish and Wildlife Service; Subramnayan et al. (2012), American Bird Conservancy (2021).

Wind power has been on the receiving end of false claims, nonsense, and strange rumors for quite some time. It is not the only energy source maligned by false information, but it is an interesting case study in misinformation regarding energy sources. To read about nonsense and rumors about wind power click here.

Photo by Athena Sandrini on Pexels.com

To see the other Super Facts click here

Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

27 thoughts on “Wind power is not a major cause of bird death”

  1. I never cease to be surprised at some of the lies circulating around wind power generation. But…there is a ton of money to be made by extracting fossil fuels, so a lot of wealthy folks have a vested interest in misinforming the public about renewable energy sources.

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    1. Yes you are right. There is so much misinformation and propaganda and people typically believe whatever fits their agendas and preconceived notions rather than evidence and expertise. Hopefully superfactful can help a little bit with that. Thank you for your comment Alex.

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  2. Read an article about what the Danes are doing to prevent bird deaths in their turbines. They’re using radar to search for masses the same as birds within a certain distance from a turbine. If a bird is seen to be going in a dangerous path, they turn off the nearest turbine. It can be done more quickly than you think. In one year they have closed down turbines 15,000 times and that was during a period when the turbines were already stopped due to icy conditions. I can’t remember the number of bird deaths mentioned but it was dramatically lower than before. So, there are ways to mitigate the danger.

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  3. That is great news. I should maybe have added something about how bird deaths can be mitigated. I know there are ways to get birds to avoid wind turbine blades, colors, shapes, sounds/sonar, etc. I did not know the Danes were doing what you describe but I am not surprised they have invested in this. Significantly more than half of their power comes from wind power.

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  4. Very interesting, Thomas! Thanks for bringing further insight on the wind power subject. On the whole, it seems much less harmful than the most used power sources. May be the only concern regarding the wind turbines is still their visual impact on the landscape. Lots of light and blessings to you, my friend*

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    1. Thank you so much Susana. No energy source is without problems, but there is a lot of misinformation about the various energy sources, especially wind. This misinformation needs to be contradicted. Lots of light and blessings to you too, my friend.

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    1. That is good. I should say this post was not anti-cat no matter how much dogs would like to see it that way. But just to put things in perspective. It is their instinct and that’s the way nature is. Our dog Rollo killed two rabbits. I don’t have any dog-rabbit statistics but there are 900 million dogs in the wolrd.

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    2. Yes I guess you are right. In fact, I read somewhere that cats may be killing so many birds that it is a real problem. There are more cats in the US (42+ millions) than nature would have supported without human caretakers.

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    3. Yes you are right of course. There are even more dogs than cats. We changed nature. Wildlife is threatened but domesticated animals are thriving, or at least they exist in large numbers. Cows may not have happy lives but there’s 1.5 billion of them in the world and there wouldn’t be that many without us.

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    1. Thank you so much Patricia. Yes airplanes wasn’t included in the studies above but I knew about cars and windows. I’ve had a few birds crash into car windshields and windows on our house. Cats of course. I see cats carrying around dead birds and rabbits all the time.

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  9. Pingback: Super Fact Page Added to Superfactful – Leonberger Life

  10. This is why my formerly feral cat is strictly an indoor cat since I rescued her 4 years ago. Still, I think they should paint the tips of the turbines and do whatever they can to make them more visible to birds.

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    1. Yes I agree. Any steps taken to reduce bird deaths should be taken. I should say I did not intend to complain about cats, it was just for comparison, and I think we people kill more birds/chickens for chicken nuggets anyway. But it is great that your cat is an indoor cat now.

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    1. Yes you are right World Questioner, but sometimes they don’t. However, the important thing to remember is birds colliding with blades of turbines is not as a big problem as it is made out to be. Bird deaths from other causes are much bigger (fossil fuels, cats, windows etc.) There are also ways to mitigate the problem.

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