You can sign up for emails from BirdCast ( ) to get these forecasts. More than 90% of Chicago’s downtown high-rise buildings now turn out their lights during spring and fall migration.īirdCast forecasts include migration maps that use models that can predict up to three days in advance which nights will feature more intense migration. Chicago, ranked as the number one city exposing migratory birds to light pollution, has embraced the Lights Out movement for more than a decade. Some cities have adopted Audubon Lights Out programs to help save birds. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Source: Bright lights in the big cities: migratory birds’ exposure to artificial light. These "windows" reflect averages from multiple years and can vary slightly from year to year. The table below shows the most crucial periods, when 50% of the total number of birds on spring migration is likely to be in the air in the top 10 cities with the most light pollution. Turning out the lights during those most intensive periods can help prevent collisions.
"Bright lights from buildings, especially those in cities taller than two stories, can attract and disorient nocturnal migrants, interrupting migration and leaving birds more susceptible to deadly collisions with buildings."Īs many as 1 billion birds die from building collisions every year, especially during migration when large numbers of birds are on the move. "Our studies have consistently shown that birds are attracted to artificial light at night," said Andrew Farnsworth, the scientist who heads the Cornell Lab's BirdCast project which forecasts intensities of migratory bird movements each spring and fall. Turning off or reducing non-essential lighting at homes, businesses, and high-rise buildings will help protect hundreds of millions of birds migrating over brightly lit cities. Analyses by scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Colorado State University pinpoint key periods with the heaviest movements of birds in April and May.
Newswise - Ithaca, NY-The biggest window of opportunity is opening up now to protect birds returning to the United States and Canada on their spring migrations.
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