Hey there! The Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) wants to help birds that fly at night. They’re asking everyone in the state to turn off bright lights from 11 pm to 6 am between August 15 and November 15.
You see, Louisiana is like a special stop for birds flying through. There are lots of cool places like wetlands, forests, and coastlines that the birds rest at during their long trips. Last year, around 478 million birds passed through Louisiana in the fall. Most of them like to fly at night, starting about 30 to 45 minutes after the sun sets, and they’re busiest between 10 and 11 pm.
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Dark skies at night are good for birds. It helps them stay safe from things that might want to eat them and lets them use stars and the moon to find their way. But sometimes, big city lights confuse them and they crash into buildings or windows, which is very sad.
Rebecca Triche, who works at the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, thinks it’s important to help these birds. She says bright city lights can make birds lose their way. This is an easy way we can all help these amazing birds. “Louisiana is known for the birds that visit us at different times of the year, and people care about keeping them safe. By supporting the Lights Out idea, people and businesses can help protect these birds while they’re here.“
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A group called the National Audubon Society started a program called Lights Out to help birds. They found that even one building with bright lights can cause problems. In 2017, almost 400 birds crashed into the windows of a tall building in Texas because of its bright lights.
Dr Dan Scheiman from Audubon Delta says that after that, the Texas building joined a program to turn off its lights at night, and it saved hundreds of thousands of birds. Every year, about 1 billion birds in the U.S. die because they hit windows. Turning off lights can make it safer for them.
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Dr Phil Stouffer from the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources has been studying this problem for five years. On the LSU campus, they found 569 birds of 75 kinds that had crashed. The most common birds hurt during the fall were the common yellowthroat, ruby-throated hummingbird, and ovenbird.
Stouffer thinks we can fix this problem. Turning off lights is a simple way to help. It’s good for other animals too, and we might see more stars in the sky.
A building in Louisiana called the Center for Coastal & Deltaic Solutions in Baton Rouge is joining the Lights Out project. It’s by the Mississippi River and is owned by the Wilbur Marvin Foundation. The Water Institute is in the building, and they’re turning off their big lights during certain times.
Beaux Jones, who’s in charge of The Water Institute, says this project is important. Living in Louisiana, which is like a highway for birds, is like a dream for people who love birds. But it can be tricky for birds to find their way. The support from the Wilbur Marvin Foundation makes this even more important for him and matches with The Water Institute’s promise to take care of nature.
If you want to help, here’s what you can do:
- Turn off extra lights every night from 11 pm to 6 am during the time birds are flying.
- Don’t use lights on trees or gardens where birds might be resting.
- For important safety lights, do these things:
- Point lights down.
- Use covers to keep light from going up.
- Use motion detectors to only turn on lights when needed.
- Close blinds at night so less light goes through windows.
- If you take care of a building:
- Finish cleaning by 11 pm.
- Make sure the lights are off after cleaning.
For big buildings (more than 3 stories), do these things:
- Make lights dim or turn them off for:
- Lights outside for looks.
- Lights in big spaces.
- Lights around the building on all floors.
- Really bright lights.
- Lights near plants or fountains.
- Lights on floors with no one in them.
- Lights that look kind of blue-white (over 3000 K in colour).
- Use these lights instead:
- Lamps on desks or lights for jobs.
- “Warm-white” or filtered LED lights outside (less than 3000 K in colour).
Migration routes and when birds fly can change because of things like the weather. A group called the Cornell Lab of Ornithology BirdCast dashboard can tell you about bird migration. On one day in August, about 550,700 birds flew across Louisiana at night. But just a week earlier, around 56,100 birds flew over Baton Rouge in one night. Last fall, on September 13, 2022, more than 3.5 million birds flew across Louisiana.
You can watch bird migration near you using BirdCast from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
