Lights Out Charlotte

Bird populations are in steep decline

All told, the North American bird population is down by 2.9 billion breeding adults, with devastating losses among birds in every habitat

Rosenberg et al. 2019. Science.

Migratory Birds

Most birds migrate at night

Birds use the sun, moon, and stars
to navigate and artificial light can
interfere with these signals

Migratory birds drawn in by city lights at night are at high risk of colliding with buildings

Collisions with buildings are a leading cause of bird death

Building collisions are killing well over one billion birds annually in the United States alone

Loss et al. 2014. The Condor.

Where is Charlotte?

Tens of millions of birds migrate across Mecklenburg County each spring (March-May) and fall (Sept-Nov)

Birds travel north in the spring to access plentiful food and nesting sites and return south to their winter homes in the fall

graphic from NC Audubon Bird Migration Explorer

Charlotte is the 19th riskiest city for birds migrating at night among the

125 largest urban areas in the continental US

Horton et al. 2019. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Seven species are most likely to collide with windows during migration

Black-and-white Warbler

Hermit Thrush

American Bird Conservancy

Hermit Thrushes sometimes forage by “foot quivering,” where they shake bits of grass with their feet to get insects.

Dark-eyed Junco

Juncos are the "snowbirds" of the middle latitudes. Over most of the eastern United States, they appear as winter sets in, and then retreat northward each spring.

Brown Creeper

Common Yellowthroat

White-throated Sparrow

Ovenbird

The Ovenbird's rapid-fire teacher-teacher-teacher song rings out in summer hardwood forests from the Mid-Atlantic states to northeastern British Columbia. It’s so loud that it may come as a surprise to find this inconspicuous warbler strutting like a tiny chicken across the dim forest floor. Its nest, a leaf-covered dome resembling an old-fashioned outdoor oven, gives the Ovenbird its name.