Wednesday: "Lights Out" is Good for Birds

This from the latest issue of National Geographic Magazine, which just arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It seems this spring, Chicago's Willis Tower, NYC's Rockefeller Center, and dozens of other buildings in the US and Toronto will "scale back their lights overnight for the benefit of migrating birds." Avian collisions with windows cost "millions of lives" each year, according to the magazine.

National Geographic states that at least 90,000 birds collide with buildings in NYC each year, and that in the US and Canada, the annual death toll for bird collisions with window glass is more than 100 million. That's a lot of mortality. Many birds can't tell the difference between a reflection and reality and find lights at night disorienting, compounding the problem--especially during spring and fall migrations.

The magazine goes on to say that homes--not urban buildings--actually account for most bird strikes. I can attest to this, as a hermit thrush flew into my living room window Friday (and luckily, survived--see Monday's blog). Adding patterns to windows is a recent development being integrated into some new high-rise construction. For my part, we have stained glass-type decals and "sun catchers" in every window, and yet we still get bird strikes.

Turning down urban lights may not entirely solve the problem of avian collisions, but it's a step in the right direction. I was encouraged by this piece, which you can find (along with a telling photo of glass that has been recently impacted by an unfortunate flier) on page 26 of the May 2011 issue.