Small Pets

"The bright lights of New York City will be a little dimmer starting next week. That's because many of the city's buildings—including famous skyscrapers such as the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center—have agreed to turn down the glow in an effort to protect migratory birds. Millions of birds pass through New York City during the fall and spring migration seasons. Window reflections and bright city lights disorient the birds, causing many to crash into buildings and die. The new bird-friendly policy, crafted by the city and the Audubon Society, requests that buildings taller than 40 stories dim or turn off their lights at midnight during the September, October, April, and May migrating periods. Glass buildings along the migration corridors of the Hudson and East Rivers were also asked to dim their lights. Daniel Klem, an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, estimates that 100 million birds die every year from building collisions, and the Audubon Society has collected more than 400 dead birds from a small sampling of buildings in New York City since 1997. A similar program in Chicago has resulted in 80 percent fewer bird deaths." (California Wild This Week)