[adamjb]

>The Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) began operations during the 1980s and by 1998 included about 5,400 wind turbines of various models, each rated to generate between 40 kW and 400 kW of electric power, or 580 MW total

>Using mortality estimates adjusted for searcher detection and scavenger removal rates, we estimated the annual wind turbine–caused bird fatalities to number [...] 2,710 (80% CI =-6,100 to 11,520) birds.

That's 1/2 a bird per turbine per year. Or one bird per 110 nameplate KW per year.

That means that they're a bit safer than the average building, assuming that the number of buildings in the US doesn't exceed the number of people by a large amount.

>We estimate that between 365 and 988 million birds (median = 599 million) are killed annually by building collisions in the U.S., with roughly 56% of mortality at low-rises, 44% at residences, and <1% at high-rises.

https://academic.oup.com/condor/article/116/1/8/5153098

[mlyle]

More like one bird per 210 nameplate kW. It was already pointed out by the grandparent comment that cats are a bigger problem for birds in general. But still, wind turbines kill enough eagles and other larger birds for it to be a significant concern deserving of mitigation.

E.g. the estimate is that the Altamont Pass installation kills ~440 burrowing owls per year, when there's likely to be fewer than 10k breeding pairs of owls left. That's a 2% kill rate (or more, counting the disruption to breeding pairs) from one (larger) installation.

[jojobas]

And cats kill even more than building apparently. Screw cats, or rather people who let them roam free.

[buzzerbetrayed]

Why exactly is it a problem with cats killing birds? All sorts of animals kill all sorts of animals. Why are you specifically bothered by this pairing?

[mlyle]

Because predators usually reach a nice equilibrium with prey species, although it's often oscillatory.

But if people create a constant stream of excess feral cats, then pretty soon cats decimate songbirds.

[jojobas]

Because these are often invasive animals supported by people destroying endangered animals.