Turn Off The Lights: Birds Are Migrating

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Look around your home this evening. The days are getting shorter, and our craving for light means that we are substituting artificial illumination for sunlight. It also may mean that we are unknowingly causing injury to the hundreds of species of birds that are now migrating to their southern homes.

Ishani Desai wrote an article in the New York Times this week about the annual fall bird migration, and her key points are worth sharing.

Nearly half a billion birds may be migrating across the United States in the next several weeks. The species include blackpoll warblers, chimney swifts, and scissor-tailed flycatchers. They’ll be flying from the Northern Hemisphere to South America for a warmer climate filled with more food.

Generally, the fall migration contains more birds because the summer’s breeding season has concluded, said Catherine Quayle, the communications director for the Wild Bird Fund, a nonprofit that rehabilitates injured or sickened birds and other animals.

Even though they’re following ancestral routes, their journeys can still be dangerous. Some birds become disoriented during bad weather. Some migrating birds are drawn into well-lit areas and cannot see glass.

At least one billion birds die each year after crashing into skyscrapers and other lighted buildings, Adriaan Dokter, a research associate who leads Cornell University’s BirdCast, an online resource that tracks the birds in real time, told Desai.

Already, many ocean-facing complexes ask their residents to pull down blinds or shades to help endangered sea turtles to nest without light confusion. I know, as I live on the Atlantic Ocean, and our beach hosts hundreds of nests each year. I lower the blinds each night at sunset. But not every condo in my community looks out the ocean, so many neighbors keep their windows bare at night, revealing the twinkling stars and local activity from within.

Some cities, such as Minneapolis and Chicago, ask residents to turn off or dim lights so the birds do not mistakenly fly toward lit structures. Building owners or managers could switch off exterior decorative lighting and floodlights and install automatic motion sensors, the Audubon Society said. Properties can also mandate light-lessening rules.

But conscientious homeowners and businesses can make a difference in migrating bird injuries without regulation. Yes, it takes some conscious thought and action, and even a little inconvenience. But the results are worth it.

In early September alone, the Wild Bird Fund admitted 453 birds, of which 124 had crashed into windows. The birds cannot tell the difference between a real tree and the reflection of a tree. In New York City, more than 250,000 birds die each year after crashing into buildings.

The bird migrating period typically ends in mid-November.