The Problem

Many songbirds migrate at night and are attracted to tall, brightly-lit buildings, especially during rainy, foggy weather. Birds then collide with lighted windows or are attracted to and confused by other building lights. They may fly around the lighted buildings to the point of exhaustion; falling to the streets and sidewalks below where they are consumed by scavengers or collide with reflective windows during the daytime.

Not just during migration, but in all seasons many birds die in daytime window collisions. They see the landscape reflected in lower-level windows of homes and businesses and mistakenly think they can fly into this reflected landscape.

Many songbird species are already declining due to habitat destruction both here and on their wintering grounds, global warming, pollution and improper use of pesticides. We need to do all that we can to make sure migrating birds have safe passage through our community.