Insights from Avian Onshore Collision for Offshore Risk Assessment and Future Research Priorities

Presentation Description: Avian collision and avoidance data from wind infrastructure are generally lacking in offshore environments and transferrable data may be gleaned from onshore wind facilities to inform collision vulnerability at Offshore Wind Energy facilities. We conducted a literature review of offshore collisions and avoidance data from resources published within the last 15 years to review the current state of knowledge of avian collisions and avoidance rates offshore. Since collision data is limited in the offshore environment, compiled literature was also considered in combination with onshore avian fatality data from Renew (WEST’s database with over 600 post-construction fatality monitoring studies) to provide insight into potential collision vulnerability of avian guilds that occur in the nearshore and offshore environments. Of 50 guilds with fatality data in the Renew database, 10 were offshore guilds with 1,205 total fatalities, with some species and guilds over- or under- represented in collisions based relative to species distributions and best available avoidance rate data. This study will demonstrate the usefulness of land-based wind energy avian fatality data to inform collision risk assessments for offshore species where data is lacking and will highlight research areas that could help inform robust risk assessments and collision risk modeling for birds in the offshore environment.