Wind turbines and widdle birdies, BFF!

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has completed a study o’ studies and found that the average wind turbine will kill a single bird every thirty years, making my house hundreds of times more dangerous than a turbine. All of the turbines in the U.S. combined kill 40k birds per year, while cats kill hundreds of millions. I think we can put this concern to rest, though perhaps we can agree that sites like Hawk Mountain might not be a great spot.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

6 replies on “Wind turbines and widdle birdies, BFF!”

  1. Yep, I have always thought wind turbine projects could “offset” any bird kills by investing in retrofitting skyscrapers and other building projects.

    People have always worried that domestic cats are putting extreme pressure on bird populations but windows are by far the biggest killer of birds.

  2. The article makes a good point about the dangers of even low kill rates to large raptors and other birds with slow population growth.

    I would like to see bat studies as well.

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