LIGHTS OUT FOR MIGRATING BIRDS - 9/23/20
LIGHTS OUT FOR MIGRATING BIRDS
BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi
I am a little late bringing this up since bird migration began September 15, but due to the need to talk about the mysterious death of thousands of birds occurring in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona last week I decided to wait. September 15 to November 15 are the primary dates of fall migration for birds. During these dates millions of birds fly south for the winter months and many cities are joining in on Audubon’s “Lights Out” effort to save lives of migrating birds.
Many birds migrate at night and the stars and the moon are the sources of light that they use to navigate their ways through the skies. Unfortunately due to the many urban areas developed by man, there are more and more light sources that compete with the natural lights of the night. These additional night lights disorient and confuse birds trying to travel in the darkness. This disorientation can cause birds to burn their stored fat and expend lots of precious energy during these times of confusion.
In New York as a tribute to 9/11 each year, two high powered searchlights shoot up into the sky near where the twin towers used to stand. These lights are awe inspiring when seen mixed in with the twinkle of all the office building lights of New York City and is a wonderful way to honor all those that were lost that day. Unfortunately this special lighting is done when many birds have just begun their gathering to migrate.
This sort of artificial lighting is a “fatal light attraction for birds” similar to insects swarming around a porch light says Treehugger.com. The birds veer off their migratory path and head for the lights causing them to fly directly into buildings. According to Tree Hugger, New York City discovered a huge number of dead birds after the first year’s lighting in 2002, so the City connected with Cornell Lab of Ornithology to minimize the fatal effect that the “Tribute in Light” might cause on birds. Now, if more than a 1,000 birds are drawn together toward the lights or even if one bird is found dead during the event, the lights are turned off 20 to 30 minutes to allow the birds to get out of their destructive path toward the lights. Since they began this practice only 2 birds have been found dead.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says, “At a time of year when all their energy needs to go to flying sometimes thousands of miles, these hazards can mean the difference between life and death…and many cities are directly in migratory flyways.” During the fall migration period (Sept 15-Nov 15) many cities have made a pledge to reduce their light pollution by 1) turning off any unnecessary lights, 2) closing shades to minimize light “spills” and 3) turning off any decorative architectural lighting.
When we reduce lighting during migratory times it not only saves bird lives, but it saves money, reduces the waste of energy reserves and helps control pollution. An added benefit will be that we will see the starry skies above us. Many cities have actually used this as a special time to have “starry night” activities that have drawn in tourists to enjoy the stars.
This question came to my mind “Is Senatobia a bird friendly community?” In many respects we are. We are a city belonging to Tree City USA and we have lots of trees that are an open invitation for birds. But, can we do more? Could we as individuals and businesses reduce our lighting during migration dates? The attached photo is a migrating Nashville Warbler that I found dead on the ground on the Northwest campus after flying into the McLendon Center Building. As we “Look at the birds of the air…” (Matthew 6:26) let us consider what we can do to save bird lives during the 2020 migration over Senatobia’s skies.
My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”.
E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com
Comments
Post a Comment