Answers to Frequently Asked Questions: Tracking Birds and Bats in Relation to Offshore Wind Energy Using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System – Bird & Bat Tracking Working Group

This document provides responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by stakeholders seeking guidance on the design and coordination of bird and bat Motus tracking studies related to offshore wind energy development. The FAQs are focused on high-priority topics where near-term clarity is needed; they are not intended to serve as comprehensive tracking guidance. 

• Accessible PDF
• Web-based version

Offshore Motus Station Deployment and Calibration Guidance

Monitoring Protocols and Guidance for Automated Radio Telemetry Studies at Offshore Wind Farms is a series of documents initially developed in 2023 with funding from NYSERDA. The working group’s feedback shaped updates to several of these documents, including the Guidance for Calibrating Offshore Motus Stations and Guidance Document for Deploying Motus Stations on Offshore Wind Turbines and Other Structures.

Additional Resources 

Additional guidance for bird and bat tracking is available in an annotated resource list. These resources include planning and coordination guidance, species prioritization efforts, Motus specific resources, and bat-specific resources.

Bird and bat tagging studies that provide information about offshore movements and interactions with offshore wind development in the U.S. Atlantic are being funded and carried out by state, federal, industry, non-profit, and academic partners. Because many of these efforts focus on overlapping species, regions, and study questions, early and ongoing coordination with the RWSC Bird and Bat Tracking Working Group is strongly recommended. For more information, see the Bird and Bat Tracking FAQs. 

Looking to start the coordination process?

• Funders developing requests for proposals (RFPs) for bird and bat offshore tracking research should directly reach out to the RWSC Research Director, Julia Dombroski ([email protected]). RWSC facilitates research funding coordination through a dedicated forum that is separate from RWSC subcommittees and working groups, and which facilitates research coordination and provides guidance for all stages of the RFP and procurement process.  

• Researchers developing study proposals or plans for offshore bird and bat tracking should initiate the coordination process by contacting RWSC Bird and Bat Subcommittee coordinator, Zara Dowling ([email protected]). Zara can identify relevant topics from past or upcoming RWSC Bird & Bat Subcommittee meetings and assist with the recommended coordination activities. 

Bird and Bat Tracking Project Database 

The RWSC Bird and Bat Tracking Working Group Project Database provides a centralized location for information on tracking studies that are collecting offshore movement data. The database is managed by the Working Group and is used to update other RWSC resources (i.e., the broader RWSC Research Database and Research Planning Map).  

• New projects should be submitted to the tracking database via the online submission form.  

• Existing project entries can be updated via the Project Update Form.