According to a new campaign, wind energy is built to protect the future, but risks to birds and bats around wind farms remain, including collisions, habitat disruption, and buffer zones that slow development. Spoor, in collaboration with FP7 McCANN MENAT, has launched “The Birdwatcher,” an initiative that turns AI monitoring data into a public record to show wind energy and wildlife can coexist.
Spoor’s technology combines AI-powered computer vision, geometric flight analysis, and ecological domain knowledge to detect, track, and classify birds and enable curtailment at wind energy sites to prevent fatalities.
For decades, the wind industry relied on human observers with binoculars to track bird activity, resulting in slow, fragmented data that often led to oversized buffer zones and stalled permits.
“Every wind project faces the same question from regulators, communities and investors: what happens to the birds? We built the technology to answer that with evidence, not assumptions,” said Ask Helseth, CEO of Spoor.
“The data shows coexistence is achievable, and it should no longer sit buried in reports that most people never read.”
Estimates suggest U.S. wind facilities are responsible for several hundred thousand to over 1.2 million bird deaths annually, with global figures likely several times higher. (Source: American Bird Conservancy, 2021)
The Birdwatcher presents an alternative approach by using biodiversity monitoring as an automated system.
Spoor’s Sky Intelligence Platform uses camera-agnostic AI to monitor wind sites continuously, with detection ranges of up to 1.5 kilometres and at least 95% accuracy. The system provides continuous bird and bat activity data to support permitting, risk mitigation, operational decision-making, and compliance.
The data can be used across site prospecting, environmental impact assessments, permitting processes, operational risk analysis, and mitigation planning. It identifies nesting areas and high-activity corridors, supports habitat protection, and informs siting decisions before turbines are built. Across onshore and offshore wind projects, the system provides data to support biodiversity monitoring.
“Our objective was to make complex data impossible to ignore,” said Federico Fanti, Regional Chief Creative Officer, FP7 McCANN MENAT.
“By making it continuously visible, both online and in the real world, we ensured it reached the people who have the power to act. The argument against wind energy was built on missing data. Spoor produced it. The Birdwatcher makes sure the world sees it.”
At Aberdeen Bay, one system monitored bird activity around a turbine for 19 months, capturing approximately 95 percent of daylight hours, recording 2,007 bird tracks, flagging five potential collision events, and confirming none.
Independent scientific trials have validated the system’s detection and tracking capabilities against human observations, with recall rates confirmed in a peer-reviewed report. The system can also monitor bird activity from a buoy, FLiDAR, or metocean platform.
The Birdwatcher campaign transforms Spoor’s data into an open, accessible experience, making bird activity around wind farms visible to everyone, from policymakers to the public, said the agency in a release.
The campaign ecosystem includes an interactive microsite where users can explore data-driven flight paths through the eyes of the largest gull on earth, an Instagram feed documenting bird activity, and a physical bird guidebook with augmented reality features distributed to key stakeholders.
Credits
CLIENT – SPOOR
Mohyletska Uliana, Marketing Director
Ralph Natter Berg, CCO
Edgar Kamga-Sande, Content Director
CREATIVE AGENCY – FP7 MCCANN Dubai
Leadership Team:
CEO: Tarek Miknas
Managing Director: Tarek Ali Ahmad
Creatives:
Regional Chief Creative Officer: Federico Fanti
Executive Creative Director: Nayaab Rais
Group Creative Director: Jonathan Cruz
Senior Creative Director: Paulo Engler
Associate Creative Director: Rob Hall
Associate Creative Director: Bruno Montoro
Associate Creative Director: Diego Fernandez-Cid
Senior Copywriter: Taha Khan
Copywriter: Liam Galt
Design Director: Arthur Melo
Motion Designer: Kaue Akimoto
Editor: Murilo DePaula
Senior Graphic Designer: Jovir Alipio
Art Director: Anna Smolkina
Copywriter: Liudmyla Ivakhnenko
Production
Diogo Borges – Creative Tech (Blou Studio)
PR
Senior PR Manager: Roksar Kamal
Global Creative Excellence Team
Global Chief Creative Officer: Andrés Ordóñez, McCANN
EVP, Global Creative Partner: Danilo Boer, McCANN
SVP, Global Executive Creative Producer: John Bleeden
Creative Excellence Manager: Alice Reindlova – McCANN
Corporate PR Specialist: Corina Nica – McCANN
