How dangerous are wind turbines for birds?
Today I saw a very depressing picture on social media which seemed to show that wind turbines pose a serious danger to birds. This made me wonder about the real risks and how they compare to other dangers faced by wildlife. People are very bad at judging risk, especially lifetime risk: So let's look at the numbers: "Researchers estimate that 140,000 to 328,000 birds are killed every year in collisions with the turbines' spinning rotor blades and support towers." "The number of animals killed on roads in the United States has been estimated at a million per day ." "About 350,000 to 27 million birds are estimated to be killed on European roads each year." "Over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals are killed by pollution every year." Obviously, there are many things which pose a bigger risk to birds than wind turbines. So what are the lifetime dangers for birds which we could contrast with human risks above?...