[Tweeters] For two backyard bird species, more light pollution is linked to lower survival

[Dan Reiff]

Hello Tweeter’s community, 

In May, I returned from one of my many trips to Eastern WA to observe, sound record, and film owls, C nighthawks, C Poorwill and Chats.
I returned to Mercer Island and made a stop at the downtown post office at 3:15 AM. When I stepped out of the car, I observed no Moonlight, no wind and no human activity. However, I was startled to hear two Robin, one Song sparrow, and one White-crowned sparrow strongly calling their morning songs. It was confusing and felt unnatural. Like, did I read the time on my iPhone incorrectly?

As I left the post office parking lot, I rolled down my windows, and slowly drove away from the city center toward home. With one exception, I heard no additional Birdsong at that hour once I left the well-lit city area.
I just now recalled that experience, which I meant to post on Tweeters at the time, after reading the following research article summary:

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-backyard-bird-species-pollution-linked.html


Sent from my iPhone