Philadelphia is about to get a little darker at night, and that’s a good thing for the birds. Starting Saturday, August 15, Lights Out Philly returns for the fall migration season, encouraging residents, businesses, and building owners across the city to turn off or block unnecessary lights overnight.
The voluntary program runs through November 15, helping create safer skies for the millions of migratory birds that pass through Philadelphia each year. Philly sits along the Atlantic Flyway, making the city an important stop for birds migrating between their breeding and wintering grounds.
Led through the Bird Safe Philly partnership, Lights Out Philly is part of a broader effort to reduce bird collisions with buildings and glass.
The coalition includes the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Audubon Mid-Atlantic, the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, National Audubon Society, Valley Forge Audubon Society and Liberty Bird Alliance.
What exactly is ‘Lights Out Philly’?
Lights Out Philly is a voluntary program that asks people to turn off or block unnecessary interior and exterior building lights during peak bird migration period. The goal is to reduce the number of birds that become disoriented by artificial light at night and subsequently collide with buildings and glass.
Participants are encouraged to turn off unnecessary lights between midnight and 6 a.m. during Philadelphia’s spring and fall migration seasons. The fall Lights Out period runs August 15 through November 15.
Important to note, the program isn’t limited to just skyscrapers. In fact, bird collisions have been documented at buildings of all heights, including residential properties.
Do we have to turn out every light?
Of course not. Lights Out Philly isn’t asking people to sit in complete darkness.
The program recommends turning off unnecessary lighting, particularly lights near windows.
For exterior lighting, Bird Safe Philly recommends turning off unnecessary floodlights, decorative lighting, event lighting, and spotlighting.
How Philadelphians can participate
Good news—you don’t need to won a skyscraper to make a difference.
Residents can participate right from home simply by making a few changes to their nighttime routine:
- Turn off unnecessary lights between midnight and 6 a.m.
- Close blinds, curtains or shades when lights need to stay on
- Turn off interior lights near windows when possible
- Switch off unnecessary exterior spotlights and decorative lighting
- Businesses and building managers can encourage employees and tenants to participate
- Report bird-window collisions to Bird Safe Philly to help researchers understand where collisions are happening.
There’s another perk to participating: using less artificial light can also mean using less electricity. The exact amount of savings depends on the building type and intensity of lights. However, simply turning off lights that aren’t needed will reduce energy use.
As fall migration gets underway, turning off a few unnecessary lights before bed is a small change that can help make Philadelphia’s nighttime skies safer for the birds passing through the city.
To find out more about Lights Out Philly and to see a list of buildings partners, be sure to visit their official website.
