I will never be convinced that solar on a large scale is a good thing.
I think they have a great place as alternate or supplement sources on specific buildings. The swaths of solar plantation leave me leery too.
There was a TV special about a cat in England which would bring its kills home and drop them on the doorstep. The cat’s owners put the kills into ziplock baggies and then the freezer.
They kept tally for a year or two and learned that the cat has killed hundreds of birds, field mice, voles, shrews, etc.
This guy is facing jail time for killing a stray cat that was killing his favorite songbirds.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/magazine/02cats-v—birds-t.html?pagewanted=all
Kill the Cat That Kills the Bird?
The greater sin is all the water used to wash dust off the solar panels - in desert and drought prone areas.