BOSTON—Environmental and watchdog groups have filed the first legal challenge to a wind farm off Cape Cod since federal agencies gave final approval to the project two months ago.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., Friday alleges that the 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound will endanger protected migratory birds and whales.

The groups say federal agencies refused to adopt recommended protective measures for the endangered roseate tern and the threatened piping plover, including shutting down turbines during peak migration periods.

A spokeswoman for the Northeast Regional office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, declined to comment on the lawsuit. But she said the agency did a "thorough evaluation of the biological effects of the project based on the best available science."

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