The city of Greensboro and its local Audubon Society are asking community members to be part of the conservation initiative called Lights Out for Birds.
Advocates from the T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society say residents and businesses can help protect migrating birds by turning off their lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Board Member Sharon Daugherty says it’s an easy way to support wildlife.
“If you enjoy watching birds come to your feeders, if you enjoy the beauty of their song, if you enjoy just sitting and observing them quietly in nature, just turn your lights off," Daugherty says. "The birds will thank you.”
Every year from mid-August through November, millions of birds fly south down the Atlantic coast guided by the moon and stars. But artificial lights can be disorienting and cause them to collide with glass.
Collisions kill over 1 billion birds in the U.S. each year and are one of the biggest threats to North America’s declining bird population.
“If we all just pitched in a little bit to help Mother Nature out, she would be in much better shape than she is," Daugherty says.
Data from Cornell University’s BirdCast project estimates that over 4,000,000 birds have crossed Guilford County in the first two weeks of the migration season.