Protecting birds: Omaha companies turn off lights, lower window shades during peak migration periods

[Omaha Steve]

X post in Birder



BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
Union Pacific is among the Omaha companies taking steps to protect migratory birds, which can be drawn by brightly lit buildings and fly right into windows. Lowering shades until midmorning and turning off lights at night can help reduce bird strikes. Here, Mark Davis, a U.P. spokesman, raises the shades on the 15th floor of the U.P. building at 1400 Douglas St.


http://www.omaha.com/money/protecting-birds-companies-turn-off-lights-lower-window-shades-during/article_a4d2840d-f25d-5d54-b1f9-877c3c71d110.html

POSTED: FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2015 1:00 AM
By Janice Podsada / World-Herald staff writer

From nightfall until the wee hours of the morning, the population of downtown Omaha soars.

March through June, hundreds of species of migratory birds fly above the city at night, guided by the stars or the Missouri River’s track.

But bright lights from the city’s office towers and high-rises can dazzle and lead to distracted flying.

Like most wildlife, birds are naturally attracted to the light. Swooping in for a closer look, “they see the light, but not the glass,” said Lindsay Rogers, a wildlife education specialist at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

FULL story at link.



BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD

Union Pacific has put up posters throughout its building asking employees to turn off unnecessary lights at the end of the workday and keep their window shades lowered until 10 a.m.

[merrily]

1. Nice.

On a somewhat related topic, if you check into a hotel on the beach in Fort Meyers when the Red Sox are in spring training, the clerk who checks you in may instruct you on drawing the drapes at night and being quiet because *lowers voice to a whisper* the turtles are nesting.

[marym625]

2. Good for them!

[MBS]

3. EXCELLENT.

Thanks for this news.
Thanks to Gov. Cuomo, New York state buildings are now doing the same thing. http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/new-york-state-turn-lights-migrating-birds-n349626

Also, the Empire State Building has taken some action, as well as many buildings in downtown Chicago, and state buildings in Minnesota: http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/kill-the-lights-not-the-birds/?smid=tw-nytopinion&_r=0

May this action please spread to other cities and other buildings.

[lonestarnot]

4. Good.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Post a silhouette of a falcon in the middle of each large window ...

http://wildlifecenter.org/windows-safe

several useful links in the article.

https://www.google.com/search?q=falcon+silhouette&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=S5NgVfTLHY-2yATTkYDwAg&ved=0CDAQ7Ak&biw=991&bih=619