A loud thud on a windowpane is a sound no bird lover wants to hear.
Baton Rouge resident Charles Williams was crestfallen when a wood thrush, a bird that migrates to Louisiana, died after flying into his window a few years ago.
Determined to make sure no other bird would collide with his windows again, William’s research led him to conservation agencies that have devised a “Lights Out Program” for communities to follow during peak migration seasons. Louisiana’s peak migration seasons are April through May and September through October. Homeowners and businesses are encouraged to turn off non-essential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. during peak flying times for migrating birds.
Prothonotary warblers frequent Louisiana and are a concern for conservationists involved in the 'Light Out Program.'
Louisiana is a common crossover point for flocks of birds migrating from the Yucatan and Latin America. With spring migration in full swing, hundreds of thousands of birds are flying through the region to reach northern breeding grounds. This mass movement of birds happens mostly at night, and light pollution can have devastating effects. When birds encounter glass, they see the image it reflects rather than a hard surface. When a building’s internal or external lights are left on at night, birds easily get disoriented. If they spy office plants inside, birds may think it’s a place to rest; others may just see a clear passage. Either can cause them to fatally crash into windows or the side of buildings.
“There are two separate issues involving window strikes: collisions with windows on city buildings and birds striking windows on residential homes,” Williams explained.
In October of last year, over 1,000 birds were killed in Chicago one night because of building strikes in the downtown area during the fall migration. Over 400 birds were killed overnight one spring in Galveston, Texas a few years ago due to the same thing, Williams said.
Blackburnian Warblers, from left, Ovenbirds and Magnolia Warblers are among the birds that perished in a glass-related incident in Galveston, Texas, a few years ago.
Approximately 3 billion birds have been lost in North America from 1970 to 2019, with the majority of those being migratory birds. Among the 135 species of conservation concern are birds that frequent Louisiana are the wood thrush, Henslow’s sparrow, bobolink, prothonotary warbler, and Kentucky warbler.
As a board member for the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Williams spearheaded a “Lights Out” resolution for the organization and has personally called on several businesses and discussed the importance of reducing the outdoor lighting during these time periods.
“I find that usually once someone realizes the harm the nighttime lights can cause, they offer to help,” he said.
“Texas began its ‘Lights Out’ program in 2020 and has seen great success with it statewide,” Williams said.
There are many commercially made decals or strips that can be purchased to put on windows that birds can see and avoid striking the glass.
For daytime window strikes, reflectivity is a problem in residential homes. There are many commercially made decals or strips that can be purchased to put on windows that birds can see and avoid striking the glass. Home remedies may include adjusting window blinds, curtains, or shades, or using tempera paint or stickers to mark windows.
Birds that are knocked unconscious may die later either from their injuries or from scavengers; some recover to fly off weakly, and the lucky ones are shaken but unaffected. One should not always assume that if a bird recovers in one’s hand and flies off, then all is okay; damage can be very debilitating and deadly in the long-term, Williams said.
To see when, where, and how far birds migrate, and even how many birds passed through your area during the night, “Birdcast” is a migration forecast app sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The app uses weather radar data to determine the numbers and flight directions of birds en route.
“I’ve found that Birdcast is fairly accurate and can predict three to four days out of a projected migration,” Williams said. “It’s a great tool.”
With our bird populations declining, Williams urges the community to take action to help combat one of the top causes of their demise. “It’s something we can all do something about,” he said.
Resources:
Louisiana Wildlife Federation: https://lawildlifefed.org
American Bird Conservancy: https://acbbirds.org
Audubon Delta: https://delta.audubon.org
“Solid Air: Invisible Killer” by Daniel Klem
This story is supplied by the Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge, which seeks to advance awareness, understanding and stewardship of the natural environment. For more information, email info@lmngbr.org.