In terms of wildlife, wind projects are understood to have greater potential for risk than solar or energy storage projects, which are relatively low to the ground and don’t have moving parts. Fortunately, many of the issues seen with the first U.S. wind farms built some 40 years ago have been addressed and resolved.

In the same way that computers, cars, and many other aspects of modern life have advanced significantly over the past 40 years, so has wind energy technology. Today’s wind turbines have about as much in common with early-80s “eggbeater” turbines as iPhones have with kitchen wall phones.

The science around interactions between wind and wildlife has also advanced significantly since the early days. While there is still much more to know, communities and wildlife lovers can rest assured that projects developed in North America have undergone thorough environmental assessments as required under federal and state law.

These assessments guide project developers and the agencies that regulate them through a "mitigation hierarchy" designed to minimize the impact of a wind farm on the local environment. Under the hierarchy, the first goal is to avoid any potential adverse impacts; impacts that cannot be avoided should be minimized; and any impacts that cannot be avoided should be offset or mitigated. Sometimes developers voluntarily undertake mitigation actions, but in cases where mitigation is required, plans must be approved by the regulatory agencies involved.

“Mitigation” means reducing the adverse impact of something. If an environmental assessment of a planned wind farm shows that it might affect habitat for a sensitive species of wildlife, the project developer might seek approval from a regulatory agency to mitigate that impact by restoring a similar or greater area of degraded habitat for that species elsewhere to offset any potential impact from the wind farm.

Birds and Bats

A majority of wildlife scientists and conservationists say that climate change is a much bigger threat to wildlife and wildlife habitat than wind energy, and that renewable energy sources are essential in fighting the climate crisis. 

At the same time, all forms of energy production affect wildlife, and wind is no exception. Here are four important things to know about the ways in which wildlife interacts with wind:

1. For most wildlife, wind farms have no measurable impact whatsoever. Ungulates like deer, elk, and moose aren’t bothered by wind turbines (and the same is true for their domestic cousins like cattle, sheep, and goats).
2. ‍For almost all birds, wind farms are not an issue. It is true that relatively small numbers of birds are killed by wind turbines every year, but these losses are nothing compared to the hundreds of millions of birds killed every year in the U.S. alone by other forms of human infrastructure like buildings, communication towers, and electrical lines, as well as habitat loss from urban development and poisoning from pesticides and fertilizers. Worst of all, it’s estimated that U.S. cats kill between 1.3 - 4 billion birds every year. 
3. ‍A few species of birds are known to be at higher risk from wind farms. These include some species of raptors, like bald and golden eagles, and lower-flying migratory birds like whooping cranes. Work among wildlife scientists, conservationists, and wind project developers to understand how to protect these species is ongoing, but at present, developers typically avoid areas with these species, develop curtailment programs to stop turbines at particular times, and/or develop mitigation plans to offset any impacts their wind farms may have. Project developers must also adhere to extensive, strict federal laws regarding sensitive, protected, and endangered species, as well as migratory birds.
4. ‍A few species of bats are also disproportionately affected by wind farms.^[1] The science around bat-wind interactions is less well understood than the science pertaining to bird-wind interactions, but a lot of research is underway. As above, at present, the main ways in which wind developers minimize potential impacts to bats is to avoid areas with sensitive species, develop curtailment programs to stop turbines at particular times, and/or develop mitigation plans to offset any impacts their wind farms may have. Project developers must also adhere to extensive, strict federal laws regarding sensitive, protected, and endangered species.

Across the country, diverse stakeholders including wind and solar project developers, wildlife agencies, scientists, and conservationists, are working together to ensure that renewable energy project development is guided by a commitment to long-term sustainability so that renewable energy and wildlife can both thrive.

If there’s one thing to know about wind and wildlife, it’s this: the American Audubon Society considers climate change to be the single greatest threats to birds in North America (and around the world) – and that’s why they endorse responsibly sited clean energy projects as an effective tool for slowing climate change.