By Marc Devokaitis, Photo: Donna Schulman/Macaulay Library, All About Birds, April 4, 2022
In December, the New York City Council passed two new laws that will reduce nighttime illumination in the glimmering Big Apple skyline, helping migrating birds navigate around and through the city that never sleeps.
One new law focuses specifically on decreasing light pollution during peak migration times. It directs city-owned and city-occupied buildings to turn off nonessential outdoor lighting between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. from August 15 to November 1, and from April 1 to May 31—peak fall and spring migration periods in the Northeast. The second ordinance requires city-owned properties to install occupancy sensors to ensure interior lights are only on when people are in a room, saving energy and curtailing a direct threat to birds by reducing the number of lit windows.
Analyses from BirdCast—a partnership between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Colorado State University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst that uses weather radar to monitor and predict bird migration—show differences in bird migration patterns when bright lights are on or off. Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2017 using BirdCast radar imagery showed that migrating birds clustered over Manhattan in densities 150 times greater than normal when drawn in by the spotlights blazing up from the ground at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum Tribute in Light. The study also showed that shutting off the lights caused the birds to disperse almost immediately.
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For more on bird migration through the Western Hemisphere please read, "Mesmerizing Migration: Watch 118 Bird Species Migrate Across A Map Of The Western Hemisphere" from All About Birds.
Interested in what bird migration might look in your area? Take a look at "Bird migration forecast maps" from BirdCast.
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