Lights Out North Carolina got started only after a transplant from New York City brought the problem to Audubon’s attention, Brand said.
She says the disorienting effect of lights on birds was observed as far back as the 19th century with lighthouses but is still a relatively recent concern in many cities. In Toronto, the Fatal Light Awareness Program, or FLAP, estimates that more than 1 million birds die in collisions with buildings there each year.īrand oversees Audubon’s Lights Out North Carolina program, an effort that began in Winston-Salem in 2012 and has since spread to Charlotte and Raleigh. Those two cities also happen to be in the paths of busy flyways, resulting in as many bird casualties in a single night as a North Carolina city will see in an entire migration season, said Kim Brand, the bird-friendly communities coordinator for Audubon North Carolina. THE PROBLEM IS ESPECIALLY SERIOUS DURING MIGRATION SEASONS, WHEN LARGE NUMBERS OF BIRDS ARE ON THE MOVE AT NIGHT, NAVIGATING BY THE STARS, AND IN CITIES WITH THICKETS OF WELL-LIT BUILDINGS. They work with local governments and property owners to make buildings less alluring to birds. In Chicago and Toronto, well-organized groups of volunteers patrol the streets below the glass towers collecting the bodies of collision victims.
But the problem is especially serious during migration seasons, when large numbers of birds are on the move at night, navigating by the stars, and in cities with thickets of well-lit buildings. “Anything that can be turned off will be turned off whenever everyone has vacated the facility,” she said.Ī bird can become confused and fly into a window almost anywhere and at any time. Lights needed for security or safety, in stairwells and at exits, as well as along walking paths outside, will stay on, Anderson said. Presented with Audubon’s findings, the city has agreed to turn off non-essential lighting at Duke Energy by 2 a.m., said Megan Anderson, who manages the city’s Office of Sustainability. “It was clearly the most problematic building,” LaRose said. The walls of glass on the building’s façade, lit from inside at night, as well as decorative exterior lights proved lethal to songbirds. Topping the list was the Duke Energy Center, which accounted for nearly a third of the more than 100 dead birds the volunteers found, LaRose said. Of the 27 species they found, 21 were migrants, such as the common yellowthroat, ovenbird, wood thrush and chimney swifts, said Rick LaRose, the group’s president.Īfter two years, the volunteers determined which buildings posed the most trouble for birds. In Raleigh, the effort began in the fall of 2013 when volunteers with the Wake Audubon Society began walking downtown streets first thing in the morning during migration seasons, counting dead and injured birds on the sidewalks. The National Audubon Society and other bird groups across North America are trying to reduce the death toll by working with building owners to turn off lights when they’re not needed.
Raleigh news observer windows#
Lights that illuminate the exteriors of buildings as well as those left on inside can confuse birds, coaxing them to crash into windows or fly in circles until they drop from exhaustion. The city has begun turning off lights at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and the nearby convention center late at night, mostly for the benefit of some out-of-town visitors.įor many songbirds that migrate through North Carolina each fall and spring, the bright city lights can be deadly.
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