Do wind farms kill birds?
All tall structures pose a risk to birds. Greenpeace opposes building wind farms on sensitive bird habitat; however, properly sited modern wind turbines in Australia carry a very low risk to birds. They typically cause one to two bird deaths per turbine each year. Compared to power lines, cars, and domestic cats, wind farms’ risk to birds is low. Bird deaths at Australian windfarms are also lower than in the northern hemisphere. Research at Victoria’s Codrington and Toora wind farms reported very few deaths of common bird species, and no deaths of rare, endangered or threatened birds. On the other hand, climate change threatens the extinction of up to 37 per cent of all Australian species, including birds, by 2050. Building wind farms to produce clean energy is an important way to address this risk. The UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds agrees that climate change is the greatest long-term threat to birds, and advocates the use of appropriately sited wind farms, along with ot
