Help Save a Birds Life, Turn Off Your Lights Tonight

Texans are being asked to turn off the lights in order to help prevent the death of migratory birds that are flying south for the winter.

Light pollution can be deadly for birds this time of year as they start their migration south to warmer temperatures. Turns out that city lights, especially in large cities like Dallas and Houston, can cause problems for these birds.

BirdCast.com reports that birds flying south for the winter are dying in mass mortality events by becoming disoriented by light pollution caused by bright city lights. The city lights tend to confuse the birds and many fly directly into building.

Birds migrate twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. We are currently right in the middle of the fall migration period which typically last from September 5 through October 29th.

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Avoiding these types of mass mortality events is really easy, according to the National Audubon Society, you just need to turn out your lights at night. Most of us do anyway but double check before you go to bed tonight and make sure any unnecessary lights are turned off. This helps the birds migrate more easily.

Former First Lady Laura Bush addressed the issue in a piece for the Dallas Morning News back in March of this year saying, "Light pollution is a growing and underrecognized threat to birds. The light emanating from cities like Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston attracts and disorients birds, leaving them confused and vulnerable."  

Texan By Nature, Laura Bush's conservancy group says the best time to turn off the lights is between 11p and 6a.

Seems simple enough right?