Wind turbines are the biggest killer of birds

Wind turbines are the biggest killer of birds
	FALSE
	"Wind turbines kill birds in enormous numbers, more than any other human-made cause, making wind power an environmental disaster for wildlife."
Domain	Science & Environment
Tactic	Statistical & Evidentiary Distortion; False Context;
Era	Current
First seen	2000s
Origin	Opponents of wind power, including some politicians, citing real bird deaths at early wind farms such as California's Altamont Pass
Last reviewed	2026-10-27
	Further reading: books on Science & Environment

The claim that wind turbines are the biggest killer of birds is often used to argue against wind power. Wind turbines do kill birds, and at some poorly sited facilities they have killed significant numbers of raptors such as golden eagles. But compared with other human-related causes, turbines account for a very small share of bird deaths. In the United States, studies estimate that turbines kill hundreds of thousands of birds a year, while outdoor cats kill more than a billion, collisions with buildings and windows kill hundreds of millions, and vehicles kill tens to hundreds of millions. Climate change, driven largely by fossil fuels, is considered one of the greatest long-term threats to bird populations. Siting turbines carefully and reducing their impacts, including on bats, remains important.

The claim

The claim appears in arguments by opponents of wind farms, sometimes accompanied by images of dead eagles. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly said that wind turbines kill large numbers of birds, describing turbines as bird "graveyards."

Origin

The concern has roots in real problems. At the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in California, built in the 1980s with thousands of small, fast-spinning turbines in a migration corridor and prime raptor habitat, studies documented the deaths of large numbers of raptors, including golden eagles, red-tailed hawks and burrowing owls. Replacing old turbines with fewer, larger ones has reduced deaths there. Wind energy companies have also faced penalties under US wildlife law; in 2022 a subsidiary of NextEra Energy pleaded guilty to charges related to the deaths of eagles at its wind farms.

What the evidence shows

Estimates from peer-reviewed studies, many led by Scott Loss and Peter Marra of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and colleagues, give annual US bird deaths of roughly:

Outdoor cats: 1.3 to 4.0 billion.
Building and window collisions: 365 million to nearly 1 billion.
Vehicles: 89 to 340 million.
Power lines: collisions and electrocutions together killing tens of millions.
Wind turbines: roughly 140,000 to 680,000, depending on the study and the number of turbines in operation.

Wind capacity has grown since these estimates were made, so turbine deaths have likely increased, but they remain orders of magnitude smaller than the leading causes. Per unit of electricity generated, some analyses have suggested that fossil fuel power, through habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, is associated with far more bird deaths than wind.

Real concerns

Raptors and rare species. Large birds of prey, which reproduce slowly, are especially vulnerable, and even small numbers of deaths can affect local populations.
Bats. Wind turbines kill large numbers of bats, particularly migratory species, which some researchers consider a greater conservation concern than bird deaths.
Siting and mitigation. Placing turbines away from migration routes and raptor habitat, curtailing operations at high-risk times and using detection systems can reduce deaths.

Why it persists

Images of a dead eagle beneath a turbine are striking, and the cause seems obvious, whereas deaths from cats, windows and cars are dispersed and rarely noticed. The claim also serves political and economic arguments against wind power. Real problems at specific sites lend it credibility.

Lessons for readers

Compare a risk with other causes of the same harm.
A real problem can be exaggerated to support a broader argument.
Ask whether claims rely on data from outdated or unusual sites.
Look for solutions that reduce harm, such as better siting.
Consider indirect effects, such as climate change, when comparing energy sources.

Sources

Scott R. Loss, Tom Will and Peter P. Marra, "Estimates of bird collision mortality at wind facilities in the contiguous United States," Biological Conservation 168 (2013).
Scott R. Loss, Tom Will and Peter P. Marra, "The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States," Nature Communications 4 (2013).
Scott R. Loss et al., "Bird–building collisions in the United States: Estimates of annual mortality and species vulnerability," The Condor 116, no. 1 (2014).
US Fish and Wildlife Service, "Threats to Birds" (overview of mortality sources).
US Department of Justice, press release on ESI Energy guilty plea concerning eagle deaths at wind facilities, April 2022.