Lights Out Bend urges: Help migrating birds
It’s spring migration in Central Oregon! Will birds be successful? What can we do to help? Turn off unnecessary interior and exterior lights at night, the group Lights Out Bend urges.
Here’s their news release;
Most small birds migrate at night using the moon and stars to navigate. Maintaining a steady course is easier at night, free of daytime thermals for a more stable atmosphere. Cooler nighttime temperatures help keep the hard-flying birds from overheating. Flying under the cover of darkness can be a benefit for small birds and insects who often become menu items for daytime predators, raptors, cats.
Bright city lights tend to lure birds off their migratory course and into cities where building and window collisions frequently cause injury and death. You can help ensure birds have a safe passage by turning off all unnecessary interior and exterior lights. If lights are a necessity, hooding and shielding to contain scatter is important. Program lights on timers to turn off after dusk. Close blinds and curtains to minimize window reflection.
LIGHTS OUT BEND (LOB) (lightsoutbend.com) is an education and advocacy program of East Cascades Audubon Society. LOB asks residents and businesses to turn off unnecessary interior and exterior lighting at night throughout the year–especially during Central Oregon’s spring and fall migration–April – July and August – November.
Progressive businesses and organizations partnering with Lights Out Bend include: St Charles Hospital Bend Campus, Deschutes Public Library, Ruffwear, Walgreens @ NE Franklin & Hwy 97, University of Oregon’s Pine Mountain Observatory, Worthy Garden Club, Worthy Hopservatory, High Desert Museum, International Dark-Sky Association.
Our community will offer protection to more than 150 species of birds as they migrate through our Central Oregon night sky by simply turning lights off. Another compelling reason to evaluate your own light pollution is the cost of wasted energy with a 40% output spilling upward into the night sky. A city can be beautiful and safe with a conscientious reduction in waste light while saving song birds and insects, protect the health of humans and wildlife, protect our dark sky. For a brighter future with starry night skies and songbirds, dim the lights.
