Springtime is often a time for Houstonians to get away, whether going for a roadtrip, taking a hiking excursion, or getting ahead of the rush at beach towns in Texas. It’s also time when billions of birds migrate north. In an effort to avoid fatal collisions, many Texas skyscrapers are participating in a lights-out initiative ensuring that the birds have a safe journey north.
While none of us consider Texas to be a flyover state, this is the case when it comes to the birds. According to BBC, somewhere around two billion birds (approximately one in three birds in the US) migrate through Texas in pursuit of nesting areas and food. A significant portion of these birds are warblers and sparrows and other smaller songbirds.
Why do birds migrate through Texas? This is due to the fact that Texas is positioned at the intersection of the Mississippi Flyway and Central Americas Flyway – two prominent north-south migratory flyways.
The tremendous journey finds birds traversing thousands of miles from warmer, southern areas as far down as Mexico on a tremendous journey north all the way up to Canada.
Of course, this is no simple task. Among its many perils are navigating storms, fog, and predators. Light pollution is also a significant obstacle. BBC states that 365 million to a billion birds perish from crashing into US buildings.
Why artificial light poses such a risk to migrating birds is a subject of debate. A prominent theory suggests that it could be due to the lights’ disorienting effect on birds – which use stars as their navigation source during nocturnal migration.
The publication points that a significant portion of this number, more than half, occur in collisions with low-rise buildings. Though this be the case, skyscrapers and other large buildings are nevertheless a “disproportionate threat” through scale that which can lead to the death of a hundred birds at once during seasonal migration.
Following a mass collision with a Galveston building, conservation organization Houston Audubon and the American National Insurance Company partnered on a campaign.
The city-wide campaign would later evolve into a statewide “Lights Out, Texas!” initiative encouraging skyscrapers, convention centers, and other large-scale building owners to turn off non-essential interior and exterior lights at night between 11 pm and 6 am during migration seasons in the spring (March through June) and fall (August through November).
Of course, the public can also participate in this wonderful initiative. Houston Audubon recommends turning off non-essential lights at the hours listed about, not to use landscape lighting in areas like trees or gardens where birds might be resting, and to close blinds at night to reduce the emittance of interior light.
Data collected so far has shown a 60% decrease in the number of fatal collisions into McCormick Place in Chicago when the lights are off.