As birds migrate through Erie, experts ask residents to minimize artificial light
Birds are working their way up to the northern states and Canada, with Erie County being right in their path of travel.
The birds can be tracked by heat radars on birdcast.org and, according to the website, 5.7 million birds passed through the area in one night.
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The Erie Bird Observatory uses these predictions to work with local partners such as the Bicentennial Tower to turn off big lights in an effort to help the birds not get disoriented or distracted.
Executive Director of the Erie Bird Observatory Holley Short said, “We can expect that, even for the next few nights, that we’re going to have those high numbers again so it’s really important — because birds migrate at night — to turn off any unnecessary lights, any lights that are shining upwards into the sky, turning those off or putting covers on them so that they shine downward in order to prevent that disorientation; we want to make sure birds are migrating safely.”
Short said you can view the birds practically everywhere, but on Saturday the Observatory will be hosting a guided bird walk at Frontier Park at 9 a.m.
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