The City of Greensboro, in partnership with the T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society (TGPAS), is preparing for the fall bird migration season through its "Lights Out for Birds" program, first launched in 2022.
The Lights Out for Birds program is a voluntary initiative that encourages Greensboro residents, businesses, and building managers to turn off nonessential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. during each spring (March 15 to May 31) and fall (August 15 to November 30) migration period. The program has the added benefit of lowering energy costs and reducing light pollution for local residents.
"The City is proud to join the Lights Out for Birds initiative. It’s a simple action that helps reduce light pollution, conserve energy, and protect migrating birds," said the City’s Chief Sustainability Officer Dr. S. Shree Dorestant, DM. "Small changes in how we use lighting can make a meaningful difference during migration season."
"The easiest, fastest, most effective way to help migrating birds is to flip the switch on nonessential lights; the hardest thing is convincing others to do the same," said TGPAS board members.
Each spring and fall billions of birds migrate over the US, including millions that pass along the Atlantic Flyway and through North Carolina. The majority of migrating birds travel at night using natural light in the sky to help them navigate. Bright, artificial light attracts and disorients the birds, drawing them off course, wasting calorie resources, and putting them in close contact with homes and other buildings, which often leads to fatal window strikes.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, collisions with glass windows could cause over a billion bird deaths in the US each year. These deaths are believed to be one of the factors responsible for a 29 percent decline in North American bird populations since 1970.
Greensboro previously implemented switching off noncritical lights at night in City-owned buildings, helping to implement the GSO2040 Comprehensive Plan goals for sustainability and energy conservation and contributing to the City’s upcoming LEED for Cities recertification.
Greensboro joins Asheville, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Winston-Salem and communities across the US and Canada in the growing movement to promote Lights Out for Birds.
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