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Our feathered friends bineshiinyag (birds) have started their journey north. While they're still down in Texas at the moment, it won't be long before they'll be passing through our region, and with the unusually warm weather this year, their arrival could be earlier than expected.
This is a friendly reminder with some little things we can all do to help make their return a little safer.
DANGER: Window Collisions
Birds often mistake windows for clear areas and collide with them, which can be fatal.
Solution: You can use a dry erase marker or yellow highlighter to draw a 2"x2" grid of dots, lines, or shapes on your windows. (The ink is removeable!) This will make the windows more visible to birds and prevent collisions. Also, if your window has a bug-screen, that works too! Learn more.
DANGER: Light Pollution
Some night-migrating birds use the stars and setting sun to navigate. Artificial lighting can attract migrating birds from as far as three miles away. Birds can become entrapped in these areas of bright lights, circling endlessly, depleting energy stores needed for migration, and colliding with buildings.
Solution: Turn off outdoor yard lights/shed lights and close your blinds/curtains at night. Learn more.
DANGER: Cats
Outdoor pet cats can pose a significant threat to birds. For example, just one cat caused and entire island population of birds to go extinct in two years.
Solution: One way to prevent this is by keeping your cats indoors during the migration and fledgling seasons. But if that's not possible, consider buying them a birdsafe collar, which is designed to make them more visible to birds (but not rodents). Check out this hilarious yet effective solution.
BONUS: Subscribe to "Birdcast Alerts" to receive email alerts during periods of high migration activity in our region. While the alerts are based on data from Chicago, they can give us a heads up on when to be extra vigilant in protecting birds from light pollution, cats, and windows.
Let's work together to ensure a safe and successful migration for the birds!
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