• Various approaches are used to monitor birds around offshore wind facilities. Depending on the specific objective, methods may include individual tracking, visual and digital observational surveys, acoustic surveys, remote imaging, radar, and prey sampling. Bird monitoring often focuses on assessing potential collisions, behavioral responses, and changes to habitat and prey. • Bird monitoring around offshore wind facilities may be conducted by scientists from academic institutions, government agencies, Tribal Nations, conservation organizations, and industry consultants working for offshore wind developers. • Bird monitoring around offshore wind facilities can clarify how birds interact with and may be affected by offshore wind facilities, support risk and impact assessments, inform the design of potential mitigation measures, and evaluate compliance with permitting requirements. For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.

• Methods to protect birds from anthropogenic risks follow a mitigation hierarchy where avoidance is the priority, followed by minimization, and then compensation, with monitoring conducted at every step to gauge effectiveness. • Avoidance is the most effective way to protect birds and is implemented in the early planning stages of offshore wind energy development through strategic siting of wind facilities away from important areas for birds, as well as the timing of project phases. If avoidance is not an option, minimization is the most common approach. • Offshore wind energy projects in the U.S. must comply with minimization actions as determined by the federal regulatory agency that oversees offshore development (the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [BOEM] and in consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFSW]). Many of the minimization methods developed to protect birds from the potential effects of terrestrial wind and offshore oil and gas operations are applicable to offshore wind energy development. While minimization methods show promise, their practical success in U.S. offshore wind energy development awaits full demonstration as the industry scales beyond its current early phase. • Compensation is a way of offsetting adverse impacts that cannot be avoided or minimized. For U.S. offshore wind facilities located in federal waters, this involves submitting a Compensatory Mitigation Plan to BOEM to offset the authorized incidental take of protected species and achieve no net loss outcomes for the affected species. For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.

• Bird-safe lighting methods focus on reducing nighttime visual impact and protecting migratory birds while maintaining mandatory aviation and maritime safety regulations. • Light pollution at offshore wind facilities is minimized primarily by using flashing, low-intensity red and yellow lighting, Aircraft Detection Lighting Systems (ADLS), and/or directional lighting including downward-shielded and glare-free fixtures. • U.S. federal agencies require and oversee some bird-safe lighting methods and emphasize siting projects away from major migration corridors to reduce attraction and collision. For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.

• “Curtailment” (a type of turbine shutdown) is the altering of turbine operation settings with the goal of temporarily slowing or stopping blade rotation. Curtailment to minimize collisions with birds and bats can be initiated in anticipation of animals flying through the wind facility, based on parameters such as weather or time of year (“predictive” curtailment), or in response to live observations in or near the wind facility (“real-time” or “triggered” curtailment). • Both predictive and real-time curtailment have been extensively used for bats at land-based wind facilities. Real-time curtailment is also a relatively well-tested measure to minimize collisions for some large raptor species at land-based wind facilities with known collision issues. However, there have not been similar levels of scientific study on curtailment for most other bird species or in the offshore environment. One of the only studies of predictive curtailment for birds (at a land-based wind facility in California) found that it was ineffective at reducing collisions for species other than raptors. In general, there is very limited evidence for the ability of curtailment to minimize collisions for most bird species. • Bird collision risk is expected to be low in offshore environments compared to other sources of bird mortality. Therefore, most offshore wind facilities across the globe have not implemented curtailment measures to date. • To further assess whether turbine curtailment may be a viable option for minimizing collision risk for birds (both on land and offshore), the following are needed: (1) further technological innovations to better measure collision frequency offshore, (2) more site-specific and species-specific baseline information on the habitat use, flight patterns, and avoidance behavior of birds, to help identify species of high collision risk, and (3) further research on curtailment for seabirds, songbirds, and other taxa, to guide the testing and implementation of curtailment and other minimization strategies. For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.

• Collaborative research efforts like Project Wildlife and Offshore Wind (WOW) bring together cross-sector expertise and resources to address research questions about potential effects of regional offshore wind energy development on marine wildlife, including seabirds. Organizations also invest in developing, testing, and validating new technologies to monitor bird interactions at and around offshore wind facilities. • Through specialist working groups and committees like the New York State Environmental Technical Working Group, organizations share knowledge and engage with each other to identify research priorities and develop guidance, products, and studies that address knowledge gaps about bird interactions with offshore wind energy development. • Conferences and workshops like the State of the Science on Offshore Energy, Wildlife, and Fisheries Conference and the Conference on Wind Energy and Wildlife Impacts facilitate cross-sector knowledge exchange and engagement among government agencies, the scientific community, conservation groups, and offshore wind developers to share research findings and identify data gaps. • Many offshore wind developers are also voluntarily committed to achieving net positive impacts, meaning that they conduct conservation or restoration efforts that generate greater ecological benefits than the negative environmental effects related to their offshore wind project(s). For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.

• When species or habitats may be at risk from human activities, potential harm may be mitigated through a tiered approach of first avoiding harm, then reducing harm, and finally, compensating for harm when it cannot be avoided or minimized, to ensure any negative impacts are balanced by ecological benefits. • Compensatory mitigation for birds in the U.S. offshore wind energy development context refers to federally required conservation or restoration efforts that offset unavoidable harm to protected bird species or their habitats. • U.S. offshore wind projects may be required to implement compensatory mitigation if federal regulators determine that construction or operation activities are likely to harm protected birds or damage important habitats. Protected bird species occurring in the U.S. Atlantic include rufa Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa), Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), and Roseate Tern (Sterna d. dougallii) and addressing their potential collision risk is a focus for current compensatory mitigation efforts. • Compensatory mitigation involves supporting restoration or conservation actions that benefit affected bird populations and habitats in measurable, lasting ways. Specific U.S. offshore wind energy development approaches for birds are still in progress and may include improving or protecting key existing habitats, as well as controlling disease or invasive species at breeding colonies. For more detailed information and scientific citations, please see the full FAQ document linked below.