As Downtown Goes 'Lights Out' To Save Migrating Birds, Nature Advocates Have Plans To Expand In Fort Worth

Arlington TX

15 March, 2022

6:58 PM

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By Haley Samsel, Fort Worth Report March 15, 2022 For the second spring in a row, seven of downtown Fort Worth's major buildings will go dark between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Building owners aren't trying to save money on energy costs, although turning off outdoor lighting can reduce electricity bills. Their not-so-hidden goal is to help with an often invisible problem: the millions of birds killed through building collisions each year, particularly when they're migrating through Texas at night. Between 365 million and 988 million birds are killed annually when they collide with buildings, according to studies cited by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, one of the world's leading research centers on birds. "The major problem is that birds are being pulled into urban areas by light pollution and then hitting buildings and residences in the early morning hours," said Julia Wang, a project leader at the Cornell Lab. "It's an underseen, underrepresented problem because detection rates are low. Birds are taken away by scavengers, predators and cleaning crews that sweep them away." In 2021, Fort Worth became the first major Texas city to sign onto Cornell's Lights Out Texas campaign for both the spring and fall migratory seasons. City officials have urged residents and business owners to dim their exterior lights between early March and early June in the spring, and between mid-August and late October in the fall. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.