Lights out, Texas

Lights out, Texas! Submitted Jeremy Hull, Travis County Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. Special thanks to the Lights Out Texas initiative for the information and graphics.

The great fall migration has begun. Each year, hundreds of millions of birds travel through Texas as they fly south for the winter, mostly traveling at night. There is a growing effort to help these birds by taking a simple action – turning off unnecessary lighting from 11:00 PM- 6:00 AM during fall migration from August 15 - November 30, and especially during peak migration from September 5 - October 20. Audubon Texas leads Lights Out Texas efforts across the state in collaboration with Cornell University, state Audubon chapters, and many partners, including conservation non-profits, universities, local governments, and Texans dedicated to the conservation of birds. In addition to saving birds, there are lots of benefits to turning off unnecessary lights. Light pollution obscures our view of the stars, negatively impacts human health, and disrupts many local wildlife species’ physiological processes. Also, turning off unnecessary lights reduces energy usage, lowering electricity bills. For lights that are needed for security and other reasons, night-sky friendly lighting fixtures that point the light only where it’s needed (and not up into the sky) can go a long way towards reducing light pollution. Being next to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP), the Steiner Ranch community is an ideal place to turn off unnecessary lights during migration, which can start as early as July in Central Texas. The BCP is home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler that migrates each fall to southern Mexico and Central America. Many other migratory birds also nest here during the spring and summer and then head south for the winter. The BCP also is a great place for birds from further north to stop and recharge during migration. To see when migration is at its busiest and get real-time forecast data on current migration conditions, check out www.BirdCast.info, an online tool created by Cornell University that uses weather radar to track birds on their migration routes. You can also sign up for email alerts and be notified of significant migration events in your area. The trails of Steiner Ranch are a great place to see some of our feathered migrants, and fall is the perfect time to see migrating hawks. Keep an eye out for large groups - called kettles - of Mississippi kites, Swainson’s hawks, or broad-winged hawks. Songbirds passing through include yellow warblers, Wilson’s warblers, and Baltimore orioles. This will also be your last chance to see some of our summer residents like summer tanagers, painted buntings (pictured left), chimney swifts, and purple martins before they head south for the winter. Learn more about the Lights Out Texas initiative at https://tx.audubon. org/urbanconservation/lights-out-texas, and the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve at www.traviscountytx.gov/tnr/nr/. Golden-fronted woodpecker LOT graphic provided by Audubon Texas