Each spring and fall, billions of birds migrate through North America in response to food sources, daylight, and the availability of optimal breeding sites. In the United States, over one billion birds die each year during migration, just from building and window strikes alone. That is nearly three times the entire United States’ population! On the local level, DCHS’s Wildlife Center has admitted over 2,200 birds for rehabilitation since 2014 due to suspected or observed window strikes. With staggering numbers like these, our aim in this article is to share several ways to help reduce morbidity and mortality risks for these traveling birds.
The majority of migratory bird species move at night. Light pollution, or the excessive use of artificial or man-made lighting, can be disorienting for these nocturnal flyers. Migratory birds get distracted by lights and veer off course towards cities and/or larger populations of people. Not only does this lead the birds to more hazardous areas where they can fly into things, like man-made objects, but it causes them to use a large amount of energy traveling in the wrong destination. Migratory birds typically travel anywhere from 100 to 600 miles per night—that’s no easy task. No one likes missing their interstate exit on long drives, and we imagine the same sentiment goes for birds.
Here are a few ways our community can help:
1. Reduce lighting. Turn off unnecessary indoor and outdoor lights. Curtains are also wonderful ways to block out light when using indoor lights. Utilize motion activated lighting so lights automatically shut off when not in use. Having these lights for human safety is important, but automatic shut-offs will have the birds and your electric bill thanking you!
2. Use warmer tone lighting. Switch lights to yellow and orange tones rather than cool or blue tones. Cooler tones have high energy blue wavelengths, just like daylight, which can confuse birds, drawing them in. Warmer tones cause less glare and mimic sunsets and/or the end of the day.
3. Have lights face down rather than up. Street or outdoor lights that face up, pointing at the sky, create more light pollution and are more distracting than ones that face the ground.
4. Suggest green-energy conservation initiatives. These can benefit commercial businesses by reducing operational costs. Lights out programs are more common today than they used to be, as its expensive to keep urban high-rises, outdoor sporting facilities, and business campuses lit all day and night. If the extra lighting isn’t necessary, it’s a win-win to save the lives of more birds.
For migratory birds that travel during the day, and for birds in general, there are other ways to reduce the rate of window collisions. Birds do not perceive windows as solid barriers. Instead, windows can look like a continuation of their environment due to window reflection, visible indoor vegetation, and glass transparency. To reduce confusion for them, it helps to make windows less reflective and more noticeably solid.
This can be done through pattern disruption such as window markings, string, decals, and more:
It can also help to move bird feeders and plants away from windows. For more information on how to make windows safe for birds, go to FLAP.
Check out the daily bird migration forecast at Bird Cast.
If you find an injured bird, please call Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center at (608) 287-3235 or your nearest wildlife rehabilitator. There is also more information on our Window Collision Protocol Guide.
Thank you for looking out for the birds!
-Haley Heath is a 2026 Wildlife Public Relations Intern.
Top photo: Dark-eyed Juncos are among the top 10 species admitted to the Wildlife Center because of window strikes.
