With a new project, we want to close the knowledge gap about the interaction between migratory songbirds and offshore wind farms. Most songbird species migrate at night, which makes visual detection difficult; species identification or differentiation from bats or insects has also been very limited to date. Using the innovative radio telemetry method of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, the flight behaviour of songbirds in offshore wind farms will be tracked for the first time. In this way, we want to determine the reaction of songbirds to wind farms and their broader flight routes. Four offshore wind farms in the so-called ‘Helgoland Wind’ (HelWin) cluster north of Helgoland serve as the study area. Based on the results, measures to reduce potential negative impacts on songbirds will be developed in collaboration with wind farm operators. The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU, ‘German Environmental Foundation’) is providing approximately €1.1 million € in research funding for this project.

DBU press release: https://www.dbu.de/en/news/millionenfoerderung-fuer-meeresschutz/

DBU project database: https://www.dbu.de/en/projektdatenbank/40640-01/