Study shows bird flight paths through two proposed Bass Strait wind farms

JANUARY 9, 2025
by Monash University

A world-first study of birds migrating across Bass Strait has shown they traveled directly through zones earmarked for the federal government's two declared offshore wind farms.

Monash University researchers studying Tasmanian Boobook owls have become the first to examine flight migration paths from Victoria to Tasmania, tracking the birds via satellite to map their overwater journeys.

The findings, published today in the journal Emu–Austral Ornithology, highlight the importance of Bass Strait as a flyway for land birds and raise a potential environmental threat posed by the Federal Government's 21,100 km2 declared offshore wind areas off Gippsland and Northern Tasmania.

Monash Associate Professor Rohan Clarke said it's a reminder that development of renewable energy infrastructure should be informed by ecological research to mitigate the impacts on local wildlife.

More:
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-bird-flight-paths-bass-strait.html