Abstract
This report summarizes bat and bird acoustic data collected for two years between 19 May 2021 and 18 May 2023 at the E14 US Wind buoy. For analyses in this report, Year 1 refers to the 365- day period from 19 May 2021 to 18 May 2022 and Year 2 refers to the 365-day period from 19 May 2022 to 18 May 2023. There were some data recording interruptions throughout the two years. The bat and bird acoustic sensors deployed on the buoy recorded 67 bat and 216 bird detections, representing 26 unique species identified by their vocalization characteristics. Bat acoustic detections were produced by three species: eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). Eastern red bats and silver-haired bats accounted for most bat vocalization sequences at 49.3% (n=33) and 41.8% (n=28) respectively. Bird acoustic detections were produced by 22 species. Gull and tern species accounted for 61.1% of all avian vocalization sequences, with most calls produced by herring gulls (n=103).
Detections for both species groups dropped significantly in windspeeds above 8 m/s, with bats showing a tendency to be generally more active in slightly higher windspeeds than birds (median 5.4 m/s for bats and 4.3 m/s for birds).
No endangered species were detected by any sensors deployed throughout the two-year campaign.