[News Terms] "Prevent Bird Collisions" 'Lights Out Movement'

The 'Lights Out movement' is an initiative launched by the American Birding Association in 1999. It involves turning off or dimming building lights during migratory bird seasons to prevent birds from colliding with buildings. This movement is actively carried out in 50 cities across the United States and Canada, including New York, Boston, San Diego, Dallas, Miami, and Toronto.

When birds collide with aircraft or get sucked into engines causing aviation accidents, it is called a 'Bird Strike.' Such bird strikes frequently occur not only with aircraft but also in urban areas.

Birds on the steel tower.
Photo by Pixabay

According to bird protection organizations such as the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) in the U.S., the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) in Canada, and the Bird Collision Prevention Association (BCPA) in Korea, about 20,000 birds are killed daily in urban areas due to bird strikes against building windows and transparent sound barriers. In the U.S., up to 1 billion birds die annually, 25 million in Canada, and approximately 8 million in Korea each year due to urban bird strikes.

Birds perceive glass windows as open spaces, and because of the transparency and reflectivity of glass, they do not realize the barrier and fly at their usual speed, resulting in collisions. The average flight speed of birds is about 36 to 72 km/h. Birds’ skeletons are optimized for flight, with thin outer bones and hollow interiors, making them very vulnerable to impact. Transparent sound barriers are also dangerous. These barriers, often installed along roadsides, frequently cross bird habitats and pose a more direct threat than building windows.

To prevent bird deaths, 'Bird Saver' raptor stickers are sometimes applied to windows, but they have not been very effective because birds do not recognize fixed images as predators.

Birds perceive glass windows as open spaces, but due to the transparency and reflectivity of the glass, they do not realize it is a barrier and fly into it at their usual flying speed. The average flying speed of birds is about 36 to 72 km/h.
[Photo by Pixabay]

However, birds do not attempt to fly through gaps they cannot pass through, which are said to be gaps (spaces) of 5 cm or 10 cm in height. Utilizing this characteristic of birds, experts devised the '5x10 rule' to save birds. By marking dots or lines with a diameter of 8 mm or less at 5x10 cm intervals on the exterior of building windows using paint or stickers, birds recognize that they cannot pass through and avoid flying into the windows.

For transparent sound barriers, one method is to hang lines thicker than 6 mm at 10 cm intervals or install nets at an appropriate distance from the glass to reduce impact.

Besides these methods to prevent bird-window collisions, various other measures are employed, such as installing nets around buildings or using devices to scare birds away. The most effective way to prevent bird collisions with buildings at night is to turn off or dim the lights around the buildings. The Lights Out movement aims to widely promote this method.

On the 1st (local time), local media in Chicago reported that the Chicago McCormick Place, the largest convention center, announced protective measures a month after a mass death incident where 1,000 migratory birds died in one night.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which owns McCormick Place, announced at its monthly board meeting the day before that curtains and blinds will be drawn every night to block light from the front glass building, the Lakeside Center, where the accident occurred. This is to prevent light from leaking outside even if the lights inside are on.

The Lakeside Center is the easternmost of the four buildings that make up McCormick Place, a four-story building with a total floor area of 54,000 square meters located by Lake Michigan. Near the exterior walls of this building, the bodies of 1,000 songbirds were found in the early morning of the 5th of last month, causing shock.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.