The spring “Lights Out” campaign starts on March 15 in Hampton Roads.
As part of this voluntary program, the Cape Henry Audubon Soceity and its partners urge property managers, businesses, tenants, government agencies, and residents help to prevent night-time bird collisions with building by turning off and/or blocking as many external and internal building lights at workplaces as possible at night to help prevent injury and death of migrating birds, especially from 11 pm to sunrise.
During migration, birds rest during the day and fly at night. During their long-distance flights, birds become disoriented by the bright, artificial lights of cities and are drawn into hazardous urban areas, where building collisions are a leading human cause of bird deaths, killing around 1 billion birds each year. Learn how you can help at Bird Safe Hampton Roads.
Please help by turning off lights visible outside after dark. Research conducted over 50 years by scientists at the Field Museum in Chicago quantified the bird-saving potential of turning lights out in downtown buildings. Halving lighted window areas decreased collision counts by 11 times in spring and 6 times in fall. Lights Out has secondary benefits in protecting moths, reducing light pollution, reducing energy costs for businesses, and reducing the region’s overall carbon footprint.
If you want to learn more about the campaign or want to volunteer to help with outreach or monitoring, please e-mail us at capehenryaudubonsociety@gmail.com
