5 Ways to Help Birds During Fall Migration

As we enter the fall season, Lincoln Park Zoo is campaigning to help pass a Bird-friendly Building Design Ordinance in the city of Chicago. It’ll be discussed by the Chicago City Council’s Zoning Committee on September 22 and we’d love your help—you can contact alders to let them know what you think.

But if you want to help birds, you don’t have to count on your local government to take action! We’re in the thick of fall migration right now. According to Cornell BirdCast, more than 200 million birds are flying through the U.S. nightly right now, and on the single night of September 17, more than 1.1 million birds came through Cook County, Illinois.

The blackpoll warbler. Featured image: a white-throated sparrow. Both are guests in the Chicago area during fall migration.

Chicago: A Rest Area for Birds

Birds travel through Chicago on their way to warmer climates. Although there’s more food and space in their northern homes, they spend winter in places as far south as Florida or South America. They often stop here to rest and refuel. As they do so, they prefer to fly at night when temperatures are more stable, they can avoid certain predators, and they can navigate by the light of the moon and stars.

This is great for Chicago, which benefits from the pollination and pest control they do along the way. Birdwatchers love this time of year, too. Chicago’s flighted guests during this season include beautiful and rare birds like hummingbirds, sandhill cranes, various species of waterfowl, birds of prey, songbirds, and so many others.

However, Chicago is recognized as one of the most dangerous places for birds to travel through. One major hazard is large buildings, as birds cannot see transparent glass or understand reflections of sky and landscaping on glass. On top of that, human light sources interfere with the natural ones that birds use to navigate. Chicago’s Bird Collision Monitors collect around 10,000 dead birds every year, and that’s likely just a fraction of the real number.

Image by Violetta Dominek.

What You Can Do

Much of Chicago is participating in Lights Out Chicago, a program from the Chicago Bird Alliance and Chicago Bird Monitors that encourages owners and managers of tall buildings along the river and lakefront to dim their nonessential lighting every night from 11 p.m. to sunrise until November 15. Even if you’re not in charge of a skyscraper, though, you can make your home or business more bird-friendly with the tips below..

1. Turn Off the Lights

As noted, most bird species migrate at night, and artificial lighting in offices and homes can disorient them to the extent that they will exhaust themselves and become more vulnerable to collisions and predators. If you’re leaving a space, please flip that light switch off on the way out! Extinguish exterior and interior lights, use motion-sensitive lighting, and use your desk lamps instead of overhead lighting at work stations. Draw curtains to prevent light from escaping your building.

2. Make Windows Less Appealing

Research has shown that birds do not see glass. As a result, they often perceive windows as small gaps in forested areas that they can safely navigate through. Up to 1 billion birds die each year colliding with glass in the U.S. alone! Move your plants away from windows, close your blinds by at least 75% to make these spaces more visible to birds, and use soap or stickers placed 2 inches apart to cover large panes of glass (soaping outside works better).

Click here to access printable window decals you can tape to your windows to make them more visible to migrating birds.

3. Tend Your Bird Feeders and Water Sources

It’s especially important during this time to make sure birds have clean, safe places to rest and eat. Make sure your bird feeders are full—if feathered animals need a pitstop on their way to their wintering grounds, being able to grab a bite along the way can help make their migration easier. Also, make sure all feeders are regularly cleaned and sanitized. This can help reduce the transmission of disease, keeping bird populations healthy.

Note that tube-shaped feeders are safest for birds from a health perspective; tray-style feeders collect fecal matter more easily, increasing the rate of pathogen transmission. If you have a bird bath, make also make sure to clean and sanitize it thoroughly on a regular basis.

4. Keep Pets Inside or on a Leash

Domestic animals like dogs and cats can be dangerous for migrating birds. In fact, free-roaming felines alone may be responsible for the deaths up to 4 billion birds in the U.S. per year (and additional billions of small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles). Of course, cats are also more vulnerable to injury when they live outdoors. So, keep them in your house whenever possible!

Do not allow dogs off-leash, especially on Chicago beaches and state natural areas (they are not allowed there). These sites are important for shorebirds finding a place to rest on their journey south or those who spend a lot of time foraging on the ground.

5. Cultivate Your Gardens With Native Plants

When you grow plants native to your region, such as Illinois prairie, savanna, and forest species, you are supporting native pollinators, including birds. You’re nurturing the local food chain, reducing pests like mosquitos, and fostering healthy biodiversity in your community.

This time of year can be among the best for birdwatchers, so you should try and visit your favorite spots for spotting birds. September is peak migration time for songbirds such as warblers, flycatchers, vireos, and thrushes. In October, watch for kinglets, wrens, and other species that tend to travel shorter distances, migrating no more than a few hundred miles. And in November, watch for waterfowl above.