Portland is currently in the middle of peak spring migration season for birds. Residents and commercial buildings can help the millions of birds migrating across North America by reducing light pollution. Birds use the stars to find their way, and by shielding, dimming or turning off outdoor lights people can help to reduce the skyglow over the city and help birds make it to their destinations safely.
The Bird Alliance of Oregon’s Lights Out program highlights the two peak migration seasons—Spring Migration: April 15-May 19 and Fall Migration: September 19-October 19—to help prevent birds from being attracted to urban areas due to the light they produce. In brightly lit cities, skyglow drowns out the stars, confusing migrating birds and luring them in. Once trapped in the windowed maze of the city, birds either hit buildings directly or circle them until they collapse from exhaustion. Not only does turning off unnecessary overnight lighting help birds, it also helps save energy (and money), reduces our carbon footprint and protects our own view of the stars.
The Alliance encourages people to take the Lights Out pledge. It’s as easy as filling out their form and following best practices at home, which include turning off outdoor lights when they’re not in use; ensuring that outside lights aim down and are well-shielded; installing motion sensors on outside lights so they’re only on when needed: choosing warm bulbs (3,000 Kelvins or less) when converting outdoor lights to LED; and during migration seasons, drawing blinds or curtains to reduce light spill from indoors.
Additionally, if the streetlight in front of your house shines light into your house, a shield can be requested from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and you can email your regional decision makers to let them know you’ve enrolled in the Take the Pledge program.
Visit bit.ly/4mITzAz to enroll and the Alliance will mail a sign to you to hang in a prominent place to help spread the word about the importance of dark skies.