Statewide City Lights-Out Program Protects Birds

Photo by Kenneth Herdy

Bird mortality from window collisions, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Detroit Audubon Society (Detroit, MI)
with support from Michigan Audubon

In 2006, a Detroit Audubon Society (DAS) member asked the Chapter what it was going to do about all the dead birds he was seeing on his way to work in downtown Detroit. DAS sprung into action, joined forces with Michigan Audubon and its network of Chapters, and the first statewide Lights Out program was born—Safe Passage Great Lakes.

Each year in North America, between one hundred million and one billion birds die during night-time migrations. Many people think that all birds migrate during the day; however, many small birds such as warblers, wrens, vireos, thrushes and tanagers migrate at night on their way either to their summer breeding grounds or their wintering grounds. Migrants face many hazards in both directions, including towers and structures that use glass. However, tall buildings lighted at night have been shown to be one of the greatest dangers.

It is thought that the lights on tall buildings confuse the navigation systems of birds unlucky to have such buildings in their flight path. They circle the buildings repeatedly and die either of exhaustion or by colliding directly with the illuminated building. According to scientists at the Field Museum in Chicago, this mortality could be reduced by 80% if those building lights were turned off.

Safe Passage Great Lakes encourages building owners and occupants to turn off lights in tall buildings—on the fifth floor and above—from 11:00 p.m. to dawn, during Spring and Fall migrations (March 15 through May 31 and from August 15 though October 31). By turning out the lights, not only will birds be spared, but money and energy will also be saved, and pollution will be reduced.

FOR MORE INFO

Visit http://www.detroitaudubon.org/safe_passage.html, or contact Fred Charbonneau, (586) 751-8269, coordinator of the Safe Passage Great Lakes team at Detroit Audubon Society.

Other Lights Out program resources:
San Francisco, CA
http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=2506  

New York, NY: New York City Audubon's Bird-Safe Building Guidelines http://www.nycaudubon.org/home/BSBGuidelines.shtml

Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Bird Friendly Development Guidelines
http://www.toronto.ca/lightsout/guidelines.htm

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