One thing I hear frequently against wind energy is "but what about the birds?" Usually this is said by someone who politically doesn't care about wildlife.

1. effort is put into abating the issue to some degree.

2. billions of birds are killed due to human activity. Number one is house cats, but impacts with windows and cars is orders of magnitude more than due to wind turbines.

3. wind power displaces gas and coal power. the effects of pollution (particulates, mercury, etc) is far worse than wind turbines for birds. not only that but it is better for anything that breathes oxygen, including humans.

So if the "what about the birds" crowd actually cared about birds, they'd push for wind power over coal. But it isn't about the birds; it is a pretext for keeping the status quo.