Check out bird migration over San Diego County at: https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-CA-073 — on a recent night, 276,600 birds crossed the county!
Some of these birds are up pretty late at night:
At the Fallbrook Community Planning Group meeting on October 17, there will be an update on the proposal to make Fallbrook a Dark Sky community — to benefit stargazers. A recent article in the New York Times made a different case that having dark skies benefits our feathered friends:
At night, when most birds migrate, lights pose another threat. Artificial lights attract birds, which then become disoriented, crashing into windows, buildings and one another or flying until they collapse, unable to see their way past the light.
The height of the fall migration season runs from around mid-September to around mid-October. It’s mind-boggling to check the real-time migration map at BirdCast each night and discover just how many millions of birds are migrating and where they are. At any given time, tens of thousands of them may be right overhead.
The best way to make the migration seasons safer overall is also the easiest to do: Just turn out the lights. Many outdoor lights are merely decorative anyway and can be safely turned off, especially during the crucial weeks of the migration season. And there’s almost always a bird-safe way to adjust the lights that are truly necessary.
