It’s that time of the year, y’all. Pumpkin spice lattes are in full swing, a few overzealous trees are starting their colorful transformation, and bird migration is underway.
Up to 45 million birds fly over Indiana each night in the fall, with nearly 600 million traveling across the state during the whole season. The bright artificial lights of cities — which create a phenomenon called sky glow — can cause traveling birds to become disoriented and crash into buildings or windows.
Enter Lights Out Indy, one branch of a nationwide effort to help reduce migratory bird deaths by increasing awareness and encouraging building owners to turn off non-essential lights during peak migration months.
Here’s how you can help the birds:
- Turn off non-essential outdoor lights.
- Aim outdoor lights down toward the ground.
- Install motion sensors on outside lights to limit their use.
- Close blinds to reduce light emission to the outdoors.
- Use warm outdoor lights (less than 3,000 Kelvin).
- Switch to lighting products that are DarkSky Approved.
