'City Lights Confuse Them:' As Birds Migrate Into Oklahoma, Experts Urge People To Turn Off Lights At Night

Birds are migrating south for the winter and experts say all the lights near a big city like Tulsa can interfere with their patterns.

They say nearly two million birds flew across Tulsa County just Sunday night alone.

Related: Common And Migratory Bird Species In Oklahoma And Where To Find Them

Experts say one of the big problems is that birds are drawn to big cities like Tulsa.

Once they’re there, little lights like porch lights or window lights can confuse them and cause them to crash into windows.

Deborah Early has been the Co-Owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, a bird hobby store, at 61st and Yale for nearly two decades.

One of the things her store sells are items that can stop birds from running into your windows, which she says is especially important this time of year.

"Ultraviolet applications that we have that are liquid and you can apply them, or there are stickers that you can apply to the windows,” said Early.

In addition to stickers and paint, Dr. Tim O’Connell, an Associate Professor of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Oklahoma State University, says turning lights off overnight can help birds stay on their path.

"City lights just confuse them,” said O’Connell. “They're brighter than the stars so that messes up their internal instincts about which way they should go. So they'll often come closer to them, and fly around."

O’Connell says he understands some places need lights on at night but hopes people will be mindful of what times and how often they use them.

"Little fields out in little small towns in Oklahoma, every car dealer has bright lights on all the time,” said O’Connell. “Those things are good and people do it on purpose. What we're trying to do with lights out campaigns is get people to understand that there are times when maybe they don't need that and to be a little more judicious about when you leave the lights on."

Early has been talking to customers about turning the lights off and how to protect bird populations.

She says she will do all she can to make sure birds make it to their winter spots safely.

"Without the birds, we wouldn't have the Earth that we have today,” said Early. “They do a lot with planting seeds and causing the beauty around us."

Mary Jackson, the President of the Tulsa Audubon Society, says that nighttime lighting can attract night-migrating birds from as far as five kilometers.

She says it can be especially bad on days when there is a low cloud ceiling when birds tend to migrate at lower altitudes.

Jackson also says the lights can cause birds to circle a building that is lit up until they are exhausted and crash into a building.

She says that the lights can also reduce the visibility of the starry night sky and disorient birds off of their normal route, alter behaviors like vocal communication, expose disoriented birds to other threats like predators, and impact the survival of insects that many bird species rely on for food.

Experts say most birds will cross through this part of the U.S. from now through October.

You can learn more about bird migration patterns HERE.