Millions of birds will cross the night skies over San Antonio this week. Help them out by dimming the lights.
If you have a sharp eye, the unexpected gems popping up around the landscape this week may be more than lingering Fiesta decorations. It could be migrating warblers, buntings and orioles using your yard to recharge after a long night flight.
Millions of birds, flying mostly at night, will cross over San Antonio this week — possibly in clear conditions or in rainstorms. You can help them by dimming the lights at night.
Migrating songbirds fly mostly at night, using the stars to find their way back and forth every year from the tropics to northern latitudes. Those following the “central flyway” can be tracked on radar as they pass over Bexar County. (Tools like BirdCast provide forecasts and live maps.)
Migrating birds often fly at high altitude using the stars, but in the city ambient illumination can disorient them and lure them towards windows, structures and other dangers where they may collide. Campaigns like Lights Out Texas have coordinated with many cities and businesses to remind us to turn out night lights and avoid landscape lighting from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. during peak migration season (April 22 through May 12).
Using motion detectors and sensors can help turn lights on only when they’re needed.
The flowers and branches of native and adapted plants provide valuable food and cover as birds recharge after long night flights. So, if after six years of drought you’ve been removing underperforming grass and “bumping out your landscape beds” in the home landscape, good for you — and yay for migrating birds!
In the WaterSaver landscape it can be an especially fun and festive season, with unexpected guests dropping in and bursts of song all day long if you’re paying attention.
For more resources on transforming your home landscape into a lush haven for guests and wildlife, check GardenStyleSA for landscaping for birds and wildlife gardening.
And if you’re having trouble locating migrating birds in your own home landscape, visit Mitchell Lake Audubon Center this Saturday, May 10 — admission is free in observance of World Migratory Bird Day.
