Bird Study MB and Climate Change and Outdoor Code

[RememberSchiff 3673]

The effect of off-shore wind turbines on bird and bat flight paths

"Dominion Energy agreed to install a wildlife-tracking system called Motus on both turbines at the end of the required monitoring period. Motus uses antennas to detect signals from birds and bats tagged with tiny radio transmitters.  

Since the Motus network launched in 2015, more than 30,000 birds, bats and butterflies(?) have been tagged, but the majority of the 1,500 antennas are on land. Meanwhile, many species migrate over the ocean.

Extending the Motus network offshore can help managers identify migration paths as well as stopover habitat on land, where birds fuel up before long flights over open water. Conserving those areas is critical, as migration is the most perilous time in a bird’s life cycle, due to the physical demands. "

And some results with photos (including flight paths) are at sources:

https://www.fws.gov/story/2024-03/where-do-birds-go-offshore-answers-may-be-blowing-wind

https://www.fws.gov/story/wind-farm-beneath-their-wings

[RememberSchiff 3673]

Texas Skyscrapers are going dark to keep billions of birds safe - Lights Out Texas

"For birds, Texas is a major flyover state: approximately two billion birds, or one in three birds migrating through the US, fly through the Lone Star State in the spring. It is snugly situated at the convergence of two major migratory flyways – the broad north-south routes that many different bird species all use to migrate. Both the Central Americas Flyway, which stretches from the Canadian Arctic to the southern tip of Argentina, and the waterway-rich Mississippi Flyway, beloved by migratory waterbirds, pass through Texas.

Along the route, hazards abound – including bright city lights. Though the Galveston collision (May 4, 2017, 395 migratory birds died) was a particularly dramatic example, birds hitting buildings is a common phenomenon. Every year, between 365 million and one billion birds are thought to be killed in building collisions in the US. The risk increases when they migrate and pass through cities in large numbers."

...

"Around the same time as the Galveston bird crash, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed a way to forecast bird migration during specific times and locations, using radar. The resulting BirdCast migration forecast maps are freely accessible. Their live migration map allows anyone to check how many birds are migrating now, and where, as well as how many are predicted to pass in the near future. For one night in October, they recorded a "billion bird night", with that number or more birds passing in a single night.

In 2020, Cornell, Houston Audubon and a range of other organisations joined forces to start the "Lights Out, Texas!" campaign, which encourages building owners, developers and businesses to switch off non-essential lighting from 11pm to 6am each night during spring and autumn migration. Timed for around March-June (spring migration) and August-November (autumn migration), the campaign aims to help create a safe passage for nocturnally migrating birds. Since then, Lights Out Texas has taken hold in every major city in Texas. The state is considered an especially important place for the campaign given its position as a mass bird migration hotspot."

Much more at BBC source:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240410-how-switching-off-lights-stops-migrating-birds-collisions-with-buildings