Lights Out For Birds

About one billion birds migrate over the Bay Area every year as they journey from wintering grounds to breeding grounds, and back. Artificial lights from our cities and towns cause birds to collide with buildings, veer off course, and tire out, making them vulnerable to predators, starvation, and exhaustion. Most bird species migrate at night, including songbirds and hummingbirds.

But this is a problem we can solve! You can help by turning off, dimming, or redirecting lights at night during migration periods in spring (February through May) and fall (August through October). Reach out to your buildings, businesses, and workplaces to ask them to do the same.

These easy steps will make a difference:

  • Exterior Lights:
  • Turn off any unnecessary lighting
  • Install motion sensors
  • Down-shield lights wherever possible

Interior Lights:

  • Reduce or turn off lobby and atrium lighting
  • Turn off lights when rooms are not in use
  • Pull blinds or drapes for rooms in use

Take the Lights Out for Birds pledge today! (Button to the form)

Learn more about the benefits of turning off lights for birds, wildlife, and humans:

Just under one billion birds are killed by building collisions in the United States each year. Artificial lighting at night has been shown to increase the rate of collision with glass windows. Birds are attracted to the lights, and disoriented, causing them to collide with the illuminated surfaces. Turning off lights will reduce the number of collisions with buildings and glass.

Most collisions occur on homes and the first four stories of buildings. In addition to turning off lights, you can ensure your windows are bird safe and prevent collisions with window treatments, tested by the American Bird Conservancy.

Birds use natural night light sources such as the stars and moon to navigate at night. When dense urban and suburban areas are lit up, the combined effect creates a landscape level illumination called “skyglow.” Skyglow causes birds to change their migratory pathways, curving towards the brightly illuminated areas. This often means birds are traveling further, expending more energy and therefore risking exhaustion and starvation.

Additionally, skyglow has been proven to cause birds to stopover more frequently than they would naturally. Rather than traveling as far as they can go in a single night, they end up stopping early and landing in our cities and towns. When birds stopover in urban areas, they are in danger of the other threats cities pose such as collision with buildings and cars, predation by outdoor cats, pollution, and difficulty finding food. Turning off and dimming lights will reduce the impacts of skyglow, keeping birds on route and out of harm’s way.

96% of all bird species eat insects, primarily moth caterpillars, for some part of their diet. The protein that caterpillars, moths, and other bugs provide is essential for young birds as they are growing fast; even hummingbirds feed their young insects. Protecting moths and other nocturnal insects is critical for protecting birds.

Just like birds, moths are disoriented, exhausted, and trapped by artificial lights at night. And it goes deeper than those direct impacts: artificial light has been shown to impact plants as well, changing the timing and availability of important food sources for these insects. Turning off lights at night will help birds, bugs, and everything up and down the food chain.

Turning off a single 100-watt bulb from dusk until dawn saves an average of 417 kwH of electricity, or $46 a year in bulbs and electricity costs. One participating municipal building in the Toronto Lights Out program reported cost savings of more than $200,000 in 2006. By reducing energy usage, Lights Out programs also help reduce pollutants such as carbon dioxide, and help moderate the impact of climate change.

PGE offers businesses energy efficiency rebates and incentives for products such as motion sensors and light timers. Check out their website here to see if your lights out energy savings qualify for additional rebates.

When was the last time you were able to look up at the night sky and see the Milky Way? Remember the sense of wonder and awe you felt at seeing the brilliancy of the natural lights surrounding our earth. Physically seeing our place in the galaxy has inspired scientific discoveries and artistic creations for millenia. Connecting with our ancestors and the globe in modern times, through stargazing is part of a universal dark sky heritage that we risk losing as our world is increasingly lit up.

Additionally, it is important to remember that humans evolved, alongside our bird and wildlife brethren, in a darker world. Artificial light has negative impacts on our human health, and darkening our urban world will have benefits for humans as well.

Thank you to these businesses and buildings for committing to Lights Out!

  • 101 California Street, San Francisco
  • Allsteel Inc., San Francisco
  • Barker Pacific Group, Inc. San Francisco
  • New Resource Bank, San Francisco
  • Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Francisco
  • San Francisco Municipal Buildings and Agencies including:
  • City Hall
  • Dept.of the Environment, 1455 Market Street
  • Dept.of Public Works 25 and 30 Van Ness and 1680 Mission Street
  • Municipal Transportation Agency, One South Van Ness
  • San Francisco Planning Dept., 1650 and 1680 Mission Street
  • Public Defender, 555 7th Street
  • Tishman Speyer, San Francisco
  • Post Montgomery Associates, 1 Montgomery St. Ste. 2350