Lights Out for Birds in New York

[Cara J]

While city lights at night might be majestic and beautiful to some people, for migrating birds, they can be fatal. But, the State of New York including New York City are putting forth efforts to turn off unnecessary lights in buildings in order to reduce the risk of collisions for many birds, including ones that are migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that state-run buildings will participate in the New York State Lights Out Initiative — part of a national effort to reduce bird collisions caused by lights. And New York City’s Audubon Society has been urging building owners to turn out lights during birds’ migration seasons since 2005 when then mayor Michael Bloomberg declared Lights Out New York, according to Susan Elbin, the director of conservation and science at New York City Audubon Society. “We hope to make the city safer for migratory birds, benefitting birds and also people who enjoy them,” Elbin said. “I never realized that collisions was such an important conservation issue until I saw a dead bird on the sidewalk — and then another, and another. These are not only the most common birds, but birds of all species, [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/lights-out-for-birds-in-new-york/