Time for New England Residents to Turn on The Red Porch Lights

You may have heard if you turn on your red porch lights in New England, it's a sign showing love to area firefighters and other rescue personnel for their service to the communities. True, but now, you can kill two birds with one bulb.

And when I say 'kill,' I mean 'save.'

According to the Concord Monitor, 80% of North American birds migrate north in the North in the Spring and South in the Fall at night. While we are sleeping, millions of birds are flying to their new seasonal destination.

We are in the migrating season right now.

The birds fly at night when it's cooler so they can conserve energy and they are less likely to overheat.

The birds also are less likely to be eaten at night. (Kitty!)

When birds are migrating they rely on their internal compass and light from the moon and stars to get where they are going. (If we were only more like birds...)

Artificial lights have made it harder for the birds during this time, especially in bigger cities. More people, more lights.

In an effort to help the birds get to where they are going, there are some simple things we can do.

One is putting red light bulbs on our porch instead of bright white.
If you don't want to use red lights, you can make sure the lights you do have are facing down, or shield them from the sky.
The color of the bulb doesn't have to be red, however, warmer colors are better than cool colors. Go back to your elementary school art class. Blue, a cool color, should be avoided.
Another suggestion is to just keep your lights off. That's the one that I go for. I can't change my lightbulbs outside during migrating season. It's just one more thing on the to do list. I can, however, shut the lights completely off.

Fly, Robin, Fly!