Wimberley proclamation puts birds in the dark

It’s Lights Out for birds. Just ask the Wimberley City Council.

With the annual bird migration season upon us, the council did its part March 17 to protect millions of migrants from sudden impact death by declaring March 1-June 15, and Aug. 15-November as Lights Out for Bird Safety months in Wimberley. The proclamation asks and encourages businesses and homes to help save birds by turning off unnecessary lights from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. in the spring and fall migration periods.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast website, an estimated one billion U.S. birds die annually from flight collisions with high rises, towers, power lines and even small one-story homes and businesses such as those in the Wimberley Valley. An estimated 253 million birds die annually just from collisions with residences. https://birdcast.info/science-to-action/ lights-out/

Unnecessary lights on buildings at night contribute greatly by disorienting birds and attracting them toward a cataclysmic collision and often a slow, painful death. This led to a national Lights Out initiative for many parts of the country, supported by the Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab and many other organizations.

It’s especially a problem in Texas, where nearly two billion migrating birds pass through the state’s migration corridors every year, mostly at night. Texas is the southern end of North America’s Central Flyway. Audubon says about “98.5% of North America’s long-distance migratory birds pass through Texas; over 330 species.”

As pointed out in the proclamation, birds are not only essential to our ecology – as they are worldwide – but they are a huge economic boon in Texas ($300 million according to Texas A&M) due to nature tourism that brings birdwatchers from all over the world to Texas every year, including locations in the Wimberley Valley, such as Patsy Glenn Refuge.

Lights Out Texas is a statewide initiative supported by dozens of local, state and national organizations such as the Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab, The American Bird Conservancy, Texas A&M, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Hays County Master Naturalists, the Wimberley Valley Dark Sky Committee, Wimberley Parks and Recreation, Hays County Friends of the Night Sky, local birding organizations and many others.

Mayor Gina Fulkerson read and then praised the proclamation, which was unanimously approved by council. For more on the state-wide effort, check https://texanbynature.org/projects/lights-out-texas/ or just Google Lights Out Texas.