Estimates about bird deaths from wind turbines vary greatly, but opponents of wind turbines, like fossil fuel industrialists and owners of golf courses, generally estimate on the high side.
I found a Smithsonian article that states that we kill between 140,000 and 328,000 birds a year in the United States with wind turbines. This is based on a study searching for the results of many other studies. We will never be able to have an exact number, but this is pretty close.
However, there are many causes of deaths for birds that are much more devastating. Supposedly, for every bird killed by a wind turbine, 2,800 birds are killed by cars. I certainly have hit my share of birds over the years. Critics often point out raptor birds as the victims, because those are the cool and rare ones. Researchers have identified the leading causes of deaths of raptors to be (1) shooting, (2) poison and (3) cars.
The leading causes of deaths for birds are buildings, power lines, cats, automobiles and pesticides, in that order. One study actually found that feral cats alone kill 3.7 billion birds in the United States every year. That is 10 million birds a day. Compare that to the estimated 2 per day per wind turbine.
No matter what study you believe, and what numbers are accurate even by a factor of 100, claiming that wind turbines should not be used to reduce killing of birds makes no sense whatsoever.
But then, there is Trump.
My brain is gagging on His Idiocy’s daily, stupid remarks and lies.
If we thought 2016 was bad, I fear 2017 will be horrible.
But at this moment, I am warm while another snowstorm races past the window, I live in Canada, I have my health/wits — at this very moment… — money in the bank, a loving husband, very good friends, food in the fridge, two condos made into one to live in (on the 22nd floor, thus a 30-km view in 3 directions), my work as an artist… So much to be thankful for.
Happy New Year to you, Norbert. We can always hope…can’t we?
That must be the nicest comment all year! Thanks. How optimistic. Only surprise: I expected you live in a house in the country somewhere – that’s my picture of Canada. 22nd floor! What city?
Ottawa. Here are photos of it — two 25-storey towers with a train of 2-story suite in between. Lived in almost every kind of unit over the past 45 years. The back overlooks a large artificial pond/moat with a swimming pool in the middle. What luxury, eh? First condo in Canada in 1971. Wouldn’t live in a house on the ground for love or money. We have 2,000 sq. feet in this complex and a staff of twelve, most of whom live here, including the manager. There are always condos for sale here if you want to escape…
https://www.google.ca/search?q=505+St+Laurent+Blvd,+Ottawa,+ON&biw=1082&bih=854&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYh_rF_J7RAhUB_4MKHbyWB1sQ_AUIBygC
Nice. Thanks for sharing. I had you completely mis-categorized in my head. Funny how that is with online friendships. Greetings from the ground dweller in Southern California.
Interested (or maybe not) to know what category you had put me in before, and what category you put me in now…
“Category” is probably not a good word. Mental image might be more fitting. I thought you lived on a horse ranch or something. Lots of land around. No neighbors in sight. Art studio in cabin/small house behind main ranch. Flat Canadian country. Perhaps the few pictures on your webpage that comes up with your name created that image. I now have a city-dweller in my head, 22nd story. It’s going to take a little while for me to adjust the “image.”
Horses! yikes. Dumb things. My husbands paints in the woods (year-round, sun, rain, snow, wind, cold…) which surround, even invade Ottawa, a city of a million people (including small towns around it). Best of both worlds, with The Gatineau Hills to the north, across the wide river.