Bird Safe Philly kicks off fall migration with seasonal Lights Out Program

Fall bird migration is underway and millions of birds are beginning to reach Philadelphia as they head south for the winter, newly hatched young embarking on their first migration.
Bird Safe Philly is asking Lights Out Philly participants — and everyone — to turn off or block non-essential lights from midnight to 6 a.m. from Aug. 15 to Nov. 15 to protect migratory birds traveling along the Atlantic Flyway.
“Birds like the Common Yellowthroat just endured a challenging nesting season as the impacts of climate-related events like heat waves and wildfires continue to make it more difficult to survive.
“As yellowthroats and other nocturnal migrants travel thousands of miles to their wintering grounds, we can make it safer for the birds that migrate through our city by minimizing the amount of bright artificial lights they are exposed to while they are migrating at night,” said Keith Russell, urban conservation program manager at Audubon Mid-Atlantic.
“We were inspired by the support that Lights Out Philly received this spring, and we encourage everyone, from building managers to small businesses and homeowners, to once again turn off, block or dim artificial lights at night and around dawn.”

Since the launch of Lights Out Philly last spring, the Philadelphia community came together in a remarkable way to protect birds. The program now has 36 commercial buildings, 43 residential sign-ups, and six municipal buildings that have agreed to voluntarily switch off unnecessary lights, especially in a building’s upper levels, lobby and atrium.
Community science is underway to assess the impact of Lights Out Philly using collision monitoring. This data collection, led by Audubon Mid-Atlantic, involves daily monitoring by volunteers searching for, identifying, and counting killed or injured birds that have collided with buildings in a particular area.
While the long-term impact of Lights Out Philly is not yet known and each city’s circumstances result in varying degrees of impact, a similar program in Chicago – the first Lights Out city in the nation – has reported saving 10,000 birds annually as well as decreasing energy usage and building maintenance costs.
Lights Out Philly is an initiative of Bird Safe Philly, a coalition led by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, Audubon Mid-Atlantic, and two local Audubon Society chapters — Valley Forge and Wyncote. The collaborative joined forces following a mass collision event in October 2020 where more than 1,000 migrating birds collided with buildings within a small area in downtown Philadelphia.

Learn more about Lights Out Philly and sign up to participate at birdsafephilly.org/lights-out.

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