How would the proposed Humboldt offshore wind project affect birds and bats?

turbine blades move through), which begins several hundred feet above the ocean’s surface. Put simply, many avian species typically fly well below the turbine blades and will be at a very low risk of impact. A 2024 study (4) using a thermal tracker found that 79% of the birds tracked flew below the swept area of the hypothetical turbines. Other species, such as geese, are more likely (5) to fly at an altitude that puts them at risk of flying within the blade swept area, although it is currently unknown how they would react to the presence of turbines. Some species are likely to simply avoid the turbines (6) by flying around them, as has been recorded in European offshore wind farms.

For impacts to all species and ecosystems, we advocate for avoidance, minimization, and mitigation (AMM) — in that order — where the highest priority should be given to avoiding project impacts, then minimizing impacts that may occur, and finally mitigating impacts that do occur. Despite the risks to avian species, the National Audubon Society supports (7) responsibly-sited offshore wind energy projects because the benefits to species that are being impacted by climate change outweigh the potential direct harm to individual birds or bats. To learn more about the impacts of climate change on bird species visit the Audubon's website Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink. (8) That website will tell you, for example, that under 1.5 degrees of warming only two Humboldt County (8) bird species are at high risk of extinction due to climate change but under 3.0 degrees of warming 40 species are. 

​

Click here to read more about potential impacts to seabirds due to floating offshore wind in California (11) from the California Ocean Science Trust in July 2024.

​

Watch this video by U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) seabird expert David Perekstra discussing potential offshore wind impacts to seabirds (9).