By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Every year, a third of all migrating birds make their way through the Lone Star State, and unfortunately, due to outdoor lighting, some won’t make it through the state successfully.

That’s why during spring and fall bird migration periods, organizations like Audubon Texas urge Texans to dim or turn off outdoor lights.

“Lights Out Texas is a statewide campaign designed to protect our migrating birds every spring and fall as most migrating birds travel at night, and they typically need dark skies to help them travel by following the moon and stars,” Chloe Crumley, public affairs and engagement manager for Audubon Texas, said. “Lights Out is an education and awareness campaign to inspire action to have our communities, residents and commercial buildings turn their lights out during our peak migration seasons to help our feathered friends either get home or go back to their breeding grounds.”

The spring bird migration is underway now and will continue through June 15. Peak migration is April 22 through May 12.

During that time, Audubon Texas encourages everyone to turn out non-essential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“Birds will get disoriented by the light when they’re traveling, and it will push them off their migratory path,” Crumley told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Oftentimes, they’ll end up flying around in circles disoriented, and they will land for the night to reassess themselves. Then, the next day when they try to take off again, they often run into buildings.”

Disoriented birds can also become the victim of cats and other urban threats.

“One in three birds in the spring that migrate in the United States come through our state,” Crumley said. “That’s billions of birds that are coming across Texas. One in three birds have the opportunity to not make it through. We want to make sure those billions of birds get to their destination.”

Birding is an opportunity for ecotourism. Birds are also good for pollination and help with pest management.

To protect these migrating birds, all Texans have to do is turn off their non-essential outdoor lights during migration or use dark-sky friendly lighting.

“There was a paper that came out in 2021 that looked at the reduction of bird collisions in its correlation to reducing lights on both commercial buildings, overall residential lightings in communities and found that any reduction of lighting also reduced bird collisions,” Crumley said. “We know that every light counts. We really encourage folks to turn their lights off.”

Lights Out Texas was launched after a mass bird fatality event in Galveston where 400 birds died after colliding into tall buildings due to bright lighting.

While Lights Out does encourage businesses in tall buildings with exterior lighting to take action, Crumley said even rural homes and barns can make an impact.

“Birds, when they’re traveling and migrating, migrate at different heights. You can see waterfowl might travel at a higher altitude than a warbler, for instance. There are actually birds that’ll be traveling at home level,” Crumley said. “So, we recommend everyone turning their lights out because every light counts.”

Additional information on Lights Out Texas is available here.