tracking coastal bird migrations: offshore wind energy implications · 2017. 2. 21. · • weather...
TRANSCRIPT
Tracking Coastal Bird Migrations: Offshore Wind Energy Implications
Pam LoringU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of Migratory Birds
P. Paton
Funding & Project Management
Cooperators
S.Tucker
Digital VHF Telemetry – a solution?
• Light-weight (0.25+ g) “nanotags”
• Digital code (unique identifier)
• >500 tags on shared frequency
Migratory Connectivity Project
Tracking Nanotags: Active & Automated Telemetry
Antennas (range 10+ km to flying birds)
Mast (this one is 40 ft)
Solar panel
Electronics box with receiver
Automated Radio Telemetry Tower
Pilot Studies in Northwest Atlantic
Common Terns (2013-present)
American Oystercatchers (2013)
P. Paton
P. Paton
2015 Expansion – Listed Species
Roseate Terns Piping Plovers
Objectives
• Quantify flight patterns
• Estimate exposure to wind energy areas
• What factors influence movements?
• Weather – wind speed, precip, visibility
• Temporal – time of day, seasonality
• Demographic – age, sex, reproductive
success?
Common Terns (2014)
Great Gull Island (n=51)
Monomoy Is. (n=70)
Tagging Locations
• Digital VHF transmitter (1.5 g)
• Burst interval 5 seconds, operational life 160 d
• Back-mounted with glue and sutures
Tag Attachment
P. Paton
P. Paton
Great Gull
Monomoy
Movie
Example of WEA Crossing Event (103 total)
Visibility (m)
Cox Model: Rate of WEA crossing events relative to …
Gender
Wind speed (m/s)
Nesting Colony
Monomoy Great Gull
Precipitation (mm/s)
NARR data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/
Parameter1Parameter
estimate
SE
(robust)
Hazard
ratio
Z-
scoreP-value
Colony (Great Gull) 2.385 1.1510 10.86 2.07 0.038
Sex (Female) 1.108 0.3902 3.03 2.84 0.004
Windspeed (m s-1) 0.6317 0.1881 1.88 3.36 < 0.001
Visibility (m) < -0.0001 < 0.0001 0.99 -1.67 0.095
Colony (Great Gull) : Windspeed 0.4116 0.1149 1.51 3.58 0.001
Colony (Great Gull) : Visibility < -0.0001 < 0.0001 0.99 -2.02 0.043
Windspeed : Time -0.0273 0.0079 0.97 -3.44 < 0.001
Visibility : Time < 0.0001 < 0.0001 1.00 2.89 0.004
Results of Top Model
Terns From Great Gull 10x more likely to cross WEAs
Females 3x more likely to cross WEA
Pro
bab
ility
of
No
t C
ross
ing
WEA
Days Since Hatch
Pro
bab
ility
of
No
tC
ross
ing
WEA
Days Since Hatch
WEA Crossing – Time of Day
Summary
• Variation by nesting colony – productivity driven?
• Females more likely WEA crossing vs. males
• After hatch: higher wind speed & lower vis
• Post-breeding: lower wind speed & higher vis
• Movements occurred during day & night
• Technology addressed information gap
P. Paton
Piping Plovers (2015)
Rhode Island (n=25)
Monomoy Is. (n=25)
Tagging Locations
Migratory departure data from 34 plovers
Migration Routes
Timing of Migration
Understanding the complex lives of migratory animalswww.motus-wts.org
Motus Stations 2013-16
• > 325 receiving stations
• >100 research projects with >150
collaborators
• ~8,000 animals of >90 species (birds, bats, insects)
• >200 million detections
Motus Stations 2013-16
Movie of Brownian Bridge model here…
Current and Future Directions
P. Paton
2016 - 2017
USCG
Buoy-based Station
Thank you!
P. Paton