Lights Out, Dallas! Spring 2026 Survey - Migration season has officially arrived! 🐦‍⬛🦉🦜 Here is the key information for the upcoming bird conservation surveys in Downtown Dallas. Reach out to join our daily survey teams from March 16 to May 31. It’s a small commitment that makes a huge difference for bird conservation in Texas. #blacklandprairiechapter #blacklandprairiemasternaturalists #lightsouttexas #TexasConservationA

https://txmn.org/bptmn/lights-out-dallas-spring-2026-survey/

KITCHENER DEEMED BIRD-FRIENDLY CITY

In November 2024, Kitchener was certified as a bird-friendly city by Nature Canada.  

A bird-friendly city is one that removes key threats to bird populations, restores nature to create habitat, engages in bird admiration and monitoring, organizes events to support birds, and has progressive municipal policies that help urban bird populations.  

As bird populations have dropped significantly over the past few decades, it is more important than ever to take concrete steps to help bird populations thrive.  

“Really, a bird friendly city is a community where key threats to birds are effectively mitigated, and our primary concern,” Jennifer Clary-Lemon, a co-chair of Bird-Friendly Kitchener, said.  

“So, mitigating those threats can take a variety of forms, everywhere from restoring natural areas to, not using pesticides and rodenticides in your own backyard and a variety of other measures,” she said. 

It is estimated that 2.7 million birds are killed each year due to agricultural chemicals. Another major threat to bird populations is outdoor cats that kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds every year, which is why another recommendation of Nature Canada is to keep cats inside.  

“[We also do] things like public outreach about fatal collisions by window collisions and trying to communicate to folks what they can do if they just have that window in their house that keeps getting bird collisions and keeps killing birds. Billions of birds killed from window collisions, believe it or not,” Clary-Lemon said. 

To become a bird-friendly city, a municipality is judged on how it meets certain criteria and is awarded points that contribute to its ranking. Currently, Kitchener is at the entry level.  

“They have a low, medium and high entry level, all the way up to kind of advanced gold star level, so that every two years you would recertify, so we’re gearing up to recertify ourselves as bird-friendly next year,” Clary-Lemon said. 

As May was Migratory Bird Month, Bird-Friendly Kitchener held several events to celebrate the city’s certification. For example, they have held talks on topics such as creating bird-safe windows and the effects of light pollution on birds. In addition, they have had screenings at the Kitchener Public Library of the documentary Lights Out Texas and an exhibition at Clay and Glass gallery.  

#2024 #birdFriendly #BirdFriendlyKitchener #Birds #JenniferClaryLemon #kitchener #KitchenerPublicLibrary #KPL #lightsOutTexas #migratoryBirdMonth #natureCanada #november #RachaelMacIntosh

https://birdcast.info/science-to-action/lights-out/

Cornell Lab
Migration Alert! Tonight thru Saturday, expect over 300 MILLION birds in the air each night. Bright lights can disorient them—make a difference by turning off non-essential lights and making windows safer. #LightsOutForBirds #LightsOutTexas #DarkSkies #LightPollutionAwareness