Now that the election is behind us and President-elect Donald Trump is poised to return to the White House, it’s time to ask a question that some bird folks have been ruminating on for some time, namely, what does he really think about birds? Does he like them (not everybody does)? Has he taken any steps to help them? Or are birds not even on his radar?
Let’s look at some evidence:
Exhibit A: That time he tussled with a Bald Eagle
Much has been made of the time that Donald Trump had what looked like a comically unfavorable encounter with a Bald Eagle in Trump Tower. Critics derided the fact that the eagle appeared to take umbrage when Trump reached behind the bird to move a vial of aspirin away from view of the cameras. While this encounter might not have been wholly pleasant, it’s clear to me that most politicians would probably never have braved such proximity to such an imposing bird – even for a few seconds. This close and somewhat perilous encounter suggests, at least to me, that Trump is certainly not bird-phobic.
Exhibit B: All that stuff about “bird cemeteries” around wind power installations
“Why is it OK for these windmills to destroy the bird population?” Trump famously asked in 2020 and throughout the 2024 presidential campaign. It’s a fair question to ask, because, according to the American Bird Conservatory, about 366,000 birds were killed by wind turbines in the U.S. in 2012. Today, that figure is likely much higher. This is not to say that Trump’s dig at wind power is exclusively motivated by concerns about avians. It does, however, suggest that he at least has some appreciation for the harm that is caused to birds by wind power.
Exhibit C: His appointment of Lee Zeldin to head up the EPA
Conservations have criticized Trump’s recently announced appointment of Congressman Lee Zeldin to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. While some of this criticism may have merit, it should be known that in 2019, Zeldin co-sponsored a bi-partisan bill to reduce the number of collisions between birds and high-rise structures owned and maintained by the Federal Government. This bill has not yet become law, but the fact that Zeldin was active on this issue is encouraging (up to a billion birds are killed each year in such collisions).
Exhibit D: Trump Tower
I don’t know for a fact that no bird has ever been killed in a collision with Trump Tower, but I’d imagine that avian casualties are relatively low, at least when compared to other glass-walled skyscrapers in Manhattan. Why? The windows of Trump Tower are heavily tinted, so no birds are likely to be fooled into believing that they can fly through the structure. Whether the decision to create a bird-safe structure was a conscious decision or just a lucky accident is unknown, but, again, the fact that Trump Tower appears to be a fairly bird-safe structure must be viewed as encouraging.
Exhibit E: That “Bird Brain” Epithet for Nikki Haley
Back in 2023, Trump famously called Republican primary contender Nikki Haley a “bird brain.” His campaign later delivered a bird cage and bird food to her hotel room to deepen the insult. Haley, of course, subsequently made up with Trump and supported him in 2024. One can only hope that this epithet simply reflects the rough-and-tumble of a grueling political campaign, not Trump’s actual views on avian intelligence.
Trump: Pro or Anti-Bird?
I think you’ll agree that the evidence listed above is hardly conclusive. While it suggests that Trump isn’t exactly anti-bird, and may in fact be selectively pro-bird, it doesn’t outweigh steps taken in his first administration to weaken the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, an action that most experts agree would have been very bad for wild birds in this country if had not been reversed by the Biden administration.
It’s too early to say whether the next Trump administration will help or harm the birds of America. So far, the picture doesn’t look great. The fact that Elon Musk, who took actions to rebrand Twitter as X, after grousing that “all those damn birds have to go,” is being given a position of power and influence, is more than a bit alarming. More ominous are Project 2025’s stated plans to further weaken environmental regulations that have been on the books for 50 years or more.
At the same time, however, it seems to me that Trump’s actual record on environmental issues isn’t as cut and dried as many critics seem to believe. In 2019 and 2020, he signed The Great American Outdoors Act and the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act, which expanded public lands and the avian wildlife living within them. A number of other pro-environmental actions taken in his first administration are listed at trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov.
So what does President-elect Donald Trump really think about birds? As Trump himself is wont to say, “we shall see.”