River Action turned out the Centennial Bridge lights at 11 a.m. on the nights of May 6, 7, and 8 in order to protect birds migrating nocturnally as they pass through the Quad City region. It is estimated that as many as 28,000 birds would migrate each night May 6-May 8th. Birds navigate best by moonlight, and other lights can confuse and cause them to hit buildings or other obstructions.
The Mississippi Flyway is one of four major flyways that cross the United States. There are the East and West coasts, of course, and the Western Mountain range, but here in the Midwest it is the Mississippi River. The Quad Cities is at the epicenter of bird migration, and turning off the lights can help many of the hundreds of species visiting our area to successfully make it to their destinations. Some cities like Toronto and Chicago have very formal programs and design guidelines, and Canada even developed a group and phone app to encourage best practices. Even the St. Louis Arch turns off the lights in May and September (not just 3 days—a whole month!) to do what they can to support the Audubon effort entitled “Lights Out”.
River Action also suggested that residents in the flyway turn off all non-essential lighting from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following morning. Yard lights, porch lights, all attract and disorient nocturnally migrating birds.
The message is clear—The darker we can keep the sky at night, the safer the birds will be when they are flying to get to where they need to go. River Action will be turning off the lights in September for the fall migration, too, when the migration will be much larger after their breeding.