Natural History Wanderings

Conservation Magazine reports how night lights are a serious threat to seabirds. Birds attracted to the lights are at risk of being run over by cars. The article states

As a group, seabirds are at the greatest risk of all birds, and the petrels are at the greatest risk of all seabirds. That’s why it’s so worrisome that shearwaters and storm-petrels can be so severely impacted by artificial lights. These are nocturnally active species during breeding season, and fledglings leave the nest only at night. They didn’t evolve to account for our lights. “Worldwide, thousands of birds are attracted to lights every year during their first fledges from their nests to the open ocean, a phenomenon called fallout,” explains Australian researcher Airam Rodriguez in a recent paper in the journal PLOS ONE. “Some fledglings may actually reach the ocean successfully but are attracted by the coastal lighting back onto the land. Fledglings are vulnerable to injury or death by collisions with human infrastructure and once grounded, to predation or become road casualties.”

Read full Story at  Seabirds fly toward the light, get run over by cars – Conservation.