Trump Mistakenly Identifies Bird Species in Wind Turbine Posts

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President Donald Trump has once again made a claim about bird species in relation to wind turbines, stating, “Eagles going down!” This comes as part of his ongoing criticism of wind energy infrastructure. Trump has been sharing images and making allegations that millions of birds are being killed by wind turbines, often with inaccurate information.

In one of his recent posts on Truth Social, Trump shared an image of a bird lying on the ground near a wind farm, captioning it with the phrase “Eagles going down!” However, the bird in question is not a bald eagle but rather a red kite that was found dead in Spain. This misidentification was noted in a 2011 article from The Telegraph.

Another post from Trump included a photo showing a group of birds flying near a wind turbine, with the caption “Killing birds by the millions!” The image was originally uploaded to Flickr in 2006 by the Taiwanese environmental group Changhua Coast Conservation Action.

There is limited verifiable data on the number of birds killed by wind turbines in recent years. However, according to the MIT Climate Portal, studies from 2013 and 2014 estimated that between 140,000 and 679,000 birds are killed annually by wind turbines in the United States. A 2009 memo from the Fish and Wildlife Service indicated that between 500,000 and 1 million birds are lost each year due to oil field production skim pits and commercial wastewater disposal facilities.

Trump also shared an article from Fox News Digital that reported the Department of the Interior fining Orsted Onshore North America over $32,000. The article claimed that the company was accused of killing two bald eagles using their wind turbines in Nebraska and Illinois. A spokesperson for Orsted stated that the company will continue to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service on this issue.

Earlier this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom took to social media to mock Trump’s post about a dead falcon, where Trump claimed wind turbines were killing “our beautiful Bald Eagles.” Newsom’s press team responded with a message on X, questioning whether Trump even knew what a bald eagle looked like.

Trump has consistently opposed wind projects while supporting the fossil fuel industry. In 2012, before he ran for president, he addressed the Scottish Parliament to protest against several wind turbines that were eventually built near his golf course in Aberdeenshire.

During his second term in office, Trump's administration has worked to revoke permits for six offshore wind projects along the East Coast and halted the construction of two others, as reported by Politico earlier this month. Additionally, the Trump administration has proposed new oil drilling initiatives off the coasts of California, Florida, and Alaska.

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