{"id":22518,"date":"2025-04-25T15:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/during-migration-season-turn-off-your-lights-to-help-birds-fly-safe\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T21:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T21:19:06","slug":"during-migration-season-turn-off-your-lights-to-help-birds-fly-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/during-migration-season-turn-off-your-lights-to-help-birds-fly-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"During migration season, turn off your lights to help birds fly safe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A wren sings in a tree at the Denver Audubon Nature Center south of the Chatfield Reservoir. May 12, 2021. (Kevin J. Beaty\/Denverite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The next few weeks mark the peak of bird migration season, a biannual natural phenomenon when hundreds of millions of birds journey across the continent, primarily at night. Scientists are calling on the public to participate in conservation efforts by turning off unnecessary artificial lights at home, potentially saving millions of avian lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost birds across the Western Hemisphere are actually migrating under the cover of darkness,\u201d said Miko Jimenez, who recently completed his PhD at Colorado State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the longest time, we didn\u2019t know much about migration. There used to be people who thought that the birds went to the moon or hid under the mud for the winter, but over time we realized that birds are migrating and are doing so in really large numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artificial lighting, however, poses a significant threat. Jimenez noted that these lights confuse and disorient migrating birds, who evolved navigating by moonlight and starlight.<\/p>\n

The impact is severe: \u201cWe know that every year about 600 million birds die by running into anthropogenic structures. Lights often attract birds to areas with a lot of structures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Biologist
Biologist Miko Jimenez points at data collected by field radar equipment to count birds in Eastern Colorado. (Arlo Perez Esquivel\/CPR News for PBS\/TPT)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

To track and understand these migrations, researchers from the AeroEco Lab at Colorado State University, including Jimenez, use a portable radar system compact enough to fit in the back of a pickup truck. This allows them to monitor bird movement across Colorado.<\/p>\n

Their research has uncovered an intriguing pattern: Approximately 80% of bird migration occurs during just a few nights each year. \u201cIf we were to focus just on those nights, we would help millions of birds,\u201d Jimenez emphasized.<\/p>\n

\"Scientists
Scientists with Colorado State University set up radar detection equipment in an Eastern Colorado field in 2023. (Arlo Perez Esquivel\/CPR News for PBS\/TPT)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The upcoming weeks in early May represent one of these critical windows. Jimenez encouraged residents to experience the wonder of migration firsthand and suggested using resources like BirdCast<\/a> to identify peak migration nights. On these evenings, he said Coloradans should minimize artificial light.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can kind of enlist the public to reduce the amount of light that they\u2019re emitting,\u201d Jimenez explained, \u201cwe can have that kind of outsized impact from a conservation standpoint and really keep birds safe as they move over our cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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