[BCNnet] FW: IBET - Lights Out website concern

[Robbie Hunsinger]

I would just like to say that I am excited about a national lights out
campaign and clearinghouse of information. However, there is a lot of
information on this new website that concerns me. I hope to work with Judy
on getting certain items corrected on the new site and also having her
include items that we feel have been critical in getting Chicago so dark.

The online flyer from the new website makes many exclusions as to which
buildings should even participate in turning their lights out and I do not
know where this information is coming from- certainly not from CBCM or
related monitoring groups.

I would like to say  for the record that CBCM encourages all buildings to
turn their lights out during migration with rooftop lights and lobby lights
being most critical. With this said, I have witnessed warblers flying
repeatedly to lit office windows on the third floor of a high-rise on
Wacker. Our findings and observations promote turning all lights out or
pulling blinds during migration. Every light counts.

Also, please note that CBCM volunteers do not in any case "release birds in
nearby parks" as stated on this website. If we did this, many of our birds
would die. We do not release birds without expert evaluation by a trained
and licensed rehabber. Birds are extremely difficult to diagnose and any
birds that we find have suffered traumatic head injury and need expert
evaluation and treatment. The successful release rate for our birds after
evaluation and treatment is very high.

On a side note, when I started monitoring birds downtown, all of the lights
were on downtown during the Lights Out period into the second week of
September.  This factor is a large part of what motivated me to form CBCM.
It has taken the efforts of many people to get Chicago this consistently
dark and CBCM has had a great deal to do with recruiting managers to turn
their lights out and also ensuring that their lights go off on time and stay
off for the whole season.

Please feel free to forward  this information to anyone that might be
interested in forming a similar effort to get lights out and rescue the
injured in their communities. I feel it is critical that people interested
in forming such an effort have the most complete information available.

CBCM is ready to offer training, rescue protocols, help in dealing with
managers, and even database and support materials assistance to anyone
interested in starting a similar effort.

Happy Birding-


Robbie Hunsinger

redstart1 at earthlink.net
Cook County IL

Founder & Coordinator
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors
http://www.birdmonitors.net


> 
> Please consider passing this information along to your contacts in other
> cities who might be interested in starting a Lights Out program... The
> photos on the website tell the story of the great compliance we've gotten
> with this program.
> 
> Audubon has developed a guide for cities across the country to form
> partnerships to save birds' lives.  A new website provides tools to
> replicate Chicago's "Lights Out" Program - a cooperative venture between
> Audubon, the City of Chicago, and the Building Owners and Managers
> Association of Chicago, in which Chicago's tall buildings all turn off
> their decorative lights during spring and fall bird migration.  The new
> national effort has the support of the International Building Owners and
> Managers Association, Audubon, and Partners in Flight, and funding from the
> US Fish and Wildlife Service.
> 
> The how-to website, lightsout.audubon.org, provides sample communications
> and recognition ideas, links to partner organizations, and research findings.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> Judy Pollock
> jpollock at audubon.org
> 
> 
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