A program called BirdCast incorporates continent-scale weather radar and machine learning to forecast the exact nights when hundreds of millions of migratory birds will torrent over U.S. cities—and may be a solution to slumping bird numbers. LongReads
Bird advocates have long organized voluntary “Lights Out” campaigns during migration season in a few cities, starting as far back as the 1990s in Toronto, and spreading to at least 44 U.S. cities today. BirdCast data allow conservationists to amplify this message on the exact nights millions of birds are likely to cross an area, using tweets, newsletters, and targeted emails to everyone from bird rehabbers to downtown building managers. “It’s wonderful policy influenced by data,” Marra says.
In December 2021, after hearing testimony from Farnsworth and others, the New York City Council voted to require city-owned buildings to turn off lights on peak migration nights, joining several other U.S. cities like Austin, Texas, which passed a similar bill earlier last fall. New York state legislators have also introduced a more aggressive bill that would compel private structures, including residences statewide, to dim or turn off most nonessential lights by 11 p.m. all year.
But another key factor was how many of the convention center’s windows had been illuminated. Each individual bright window left more dead birds for volunteers to find the next day. The correlation suggests halving the number of lit window bays would halve the number of bird strikes, the team estimated, saving thousands of birds at this one three-story building. “It really does seem that each window makes a difference,” van Doren says.
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