I don't know if it's getting a free pass. I think we're hearing more about it and about having too many in the wrong place. I'm a birder too. I know that habitat loss is the top impact on birds and that actually the top two causes of direct mortality for birds are cats and windows, which you wouldn't think, but it's actually true. Over 300 million birds are killed each year by cats in Canada. Sometimes when people complain about wind turbines and birds, even though they have some profile in their community, they often need to look in their own backyard.
On April 19th, 2018. See this statement in context.