Time to turn off your lights to help migrating birds coming to or through our area! Learn more about the importance of darkness to migrating birds.

The spring migration for birds is happening NOW - from March 15 through May 31 our feathered friends are making their long journeys north. It is estimated that over 100 million birds fly over northern Virginia in the spring. Migration usually occurs at night, and many birds use the stars to navigate. 

NVBA has launched a campaign to prevent bird deaths, citing a National Audubon Society study that found a 30 percent drop in bird populations in North America since 1970, which means more than one in four birds or three billion birds have been lost since then.

All migrating birds are at risk from excessive outdoor lighting each spring and fall. Some cities, including Washington DC, have established programs such as Lights Out DC, which works to convince building owners and managers to adopt light abatement procedures for the sake of migrating birds.

Remember the last time you saw the Milky Way? Around 33 percent of the world’s population can’t see it. In North America, nearly 80 percent of us cannot.

Fall migration is expected to peak from September 15 to November 3 in the northern Virginia area. You can help protect the hundreds of millions of birds that are expected to fly over our area by turning off or dimming non-essential lighting during critical migration periods.

Peak songbird migration in our area is mid-April to mid-May. Now is a good time to take extra steps to greet our migrants by making our homes and neighborhoods a little safer for them, helping them avoid window collisions and exhaustion.