Deadly bird collisions during peak migration

Good morning, DMV! It’s Tuesday, May 19, and the spring bird migration is at its peak this month.

Millions of birds have passed over the D.C. region. Here is how many birds flew over us on the busiest migration nights this season so far:

Last night was expected to be busy, too, but I expect the numbers will still be rolling in as this newsletter hits your inbox.

A deadly segment of their journey is urban areas. Most migratory birds travel by night and use the stars to navigate. Our city lights and reflective glass buildings attract and confuse them. Experts say more than 1 billion birds die in collisions with glass every year.

Each year during the spring and fall bird migration seasons, volunteers from Lights Out DC — an advocacy program launched in 2010 by City Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Northeast Washington — head out before dawn to walk the most collision-prone neighborhoods to find birds killed or injured after crashing into glass. Most collisions are fatal.

Lisbeth Fuisz, a coordinator of Lights Out DC, told me that because the spring migration is smaller — because they’re coming here to breed — there are generally fewer collisions in this season.

When I spoke with her last Thursday, she said volunteers had reported about 55 injured or dead birds so far this season, including about 25 different bird species. The bird that volunteers find most is the ovenbird, which is particularly prone to window collisions, Lisbeth said. As of Thursday, there had been 13 reports of ovenbirds — three times the amount of any other bird.

I joined them for a pre-dawn walk in October 2024 for a story I wrote for the Washington Post. It was my most intimate contact with these beautiful birds, and it was so sad.

Lights Out DC donates the bodies of birds that die to scientists, who are studying topics such as tapeworms and seed dispersal, Lisbeth said.

Prevention is possible: Turn off outdoor lights, particularly during migration season; and make glass safer and more visible for birds.

Lisbeth said it has been challenging to get existing buildings to fix this problem, though in 2022, D.C. did pass legislation requiring most new buildings (except residential buildings under five units) to install bird-safe glass on the bottom 100 feet of the structure.

Here are ways you can help or get involved:

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Rebecca Jones, 38, sent in this photo she took last Wednesday night from her apartment building in Fairfax, Virginia.

“The sky put on quite a show for us as the storm rolled in around 8:30. I even managed to capture a bit of lightning!” Rebecca wrote in her submission.

“We will soon lose our view since they are building another apartment building right across the street, so we’re trying to soak in the views while we can.”

Share your recent photos of life in the DMV here.

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