Trump shares photo of dead falcon, blames windmills are killing 'our beautiful bald eagles'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump once again stirred attention online, showing little interest in stepping away from public debates. His social media activity remains constant, and this time it focused on wind energy.

Trump shared posts criticizing wind power and later uploaded an image that appeared to show a dead brown bird near a wind turbine. On Tuesday, December 30, the president posted the image on Truth Social with a message, “Windmills are killing all of our beautiful Bald Eagles!”

Trump continues windmill criticism with bird photo, but not an Eagle 

Donald Trump posted another message in his ongoing criticism of wind turbines, claiming they are killing America’s Bald Eagles. Well, the photo he shared isn’t actually of an Eagle. Google Lens traced it back to two Israeli news articles - Haaretz in 2017 and The Times of Israel in 2019. 

The image shows a dead bird under a wind turbine and is credited to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Haaretz says the bird is a falcon, while The Times of Israel calls it a kestrel. Either way, it is not a Bald Eagle. The Department of Energy even amplified Trump’s post on social media. The Independent has contacted the agency to ask whether it is aware of where the photo originally came from.

Trump’s longstanding dislike of windmills draws fresh attention from critics

Donald Trump’s dislike of wind turbines stretches back over a decade. In 2012, he testified against 11 proposed wind turbines near his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, as per The Times. Though the turbines were eventually built, Trump described them as 'some of the ugliest you’ve ever seen.'

He has also repeatedly claimed that windmills can cause health problems. “Hillary wanted to put up wind, wind,” Trump said in 2019, adding, “And they say the noise causes cancer.”

Earlier this year, he called windmills 'a disgrace.' “I think windmills are a disgrace,” he said aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland. “I think they-they hurt everything they touch. They’re ugly. They’re very inefficient. It’s the most expensive form of energy there is.”

The debate returned to headlines after Trump shared a photo of a dead falcon online, claiming windmills are killing 'our beautiful Bald Eagles.' California Governor Gavin Newsom seized the opportunity to mock Trump, questioning his understanding of the nation’s iconic bird.

Reacting to Trump’s post, Newsom’s press team wrote on X, “Dozy Don doesn’t know what America’s bird looks like???”