Turn out your lights tonight to help birds
Bird lovers could be in for a treat the next couple of days as a major bird migration sweeps through the region. But at night, that means that all local humans should turn off lights to help keep those birds alive.
BirdCast , a coalition of ornithologists, data and computer scientists, forecasts a "white-hot" bird migration — with millions of birds per night — flying across Wisconsin on Monday night, and smaller numbers into Tuesday. That also puts birds at peril of collisions with structures if lights are left on through the night into the wee hours of the morning.
"High levels of bird migration at night generally means good bird watching the next few days when birds have landed and are fueling up and resting," according to a statement from SOS Save Our Songbirds, a Wisconsin action campaign to help people take simple steps at home to protect birds.
"High migration also means high risk for bird-window collisions in the morning, so please turn off nonessential lights tonight and during other critical migration" periods.
Nonessential lighting should be turned off between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to BirdCast, which has issued a "high alert" for the migration through the Madison area at birdcast.info/migration-tools/local-migration-alerts .
"Bright lights attract and disorient nocturnally migrating birds, potentially causing fatal collisions with buildings or exposure to additional daytime hazards," instructs BirdCast, a collaboration of the Cornell Lab, Colorado State University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
On Saturday night, an estimated 2,131,000 birds crossed Wisconsin with peak migration traffic at 4,100 feet and speeds of 40 mph, according to BirdCast. That includes 534,700 migrating birds over Dane County alone.
Those numbers and other fascinating information on local bird movement is available on the app's migration dashboard at birdcast.info/migration-tools/migration-dashboard/
Top migrating species right now include the American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Easter Wood-Pewee and many others, according to BirdCast.
Many birds were delayed in their migration this year because of southerly winds during much of September, according to SOS Save Our Songbirds. "Research has shown birds often wait for tailwinds to migrate to save energy. For fall migration, that means winds blowing from the north," said SOS.
By Sept. 20, however, the "dam of migration was ready to burst," DNR conservation biologist Ryan Brady told SOS. Brady counted nearly 60 bird species in under two hours at his home near Washburn, SOS reported.
SOS Save Our Songbirds suggests these key ways to help migrating birds:
During fall yardwork, keep birds in mind.
Volunteer to collect native plant seeds. These can be used to restore native bird habitat. Many seed collection opportunities this month from Dane County Parks are listed at
parks-lwrd.danecounty.gov/Volunteer/Native-Seed-Program
