Lights Out Chicago!
Please join light reduction efforts to make Chicago a safer place for migrating birds!
Lights from the tops of multi-story buildings (including logos, clocks, lighted antennae, and decorative top decorations) are fatal attractions to migratory birds that are passing over urban areas at night. Birds are drawn away from their night time flights to become hopelessly disoriented and trapped circling brightly lit structures or beams of light. When they arrive in the downtown area just before sunrise, birds are tempted to fly into brightly lit lobbies towards attractive indoor plants and fountains.
For more than two decades, Chicago has been a leader in light reduction efforts to protect migratory birds. Please join participating buildings, turn lights off after 11 p.m. until daylight during migration and help save birds.
Every spring and fall millions of birds travel through the Chicago area. Too often thay are attracted by building lights and lighted glass areas with fatal results. We saw the tragic consequences of lights left on without shades drawn on October 5, 2023 - more than a thousand birds were killed at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center and several thousand more died in downtown Chicago. With good light reduction practices, fatalities re greatly reduced.
We encourage building management and the public to support light reduction in downtown and lakefront areas by turning off all bright display lighting on the top of your building in the downtown area or along the lakefront from 11:00 p.m. until evening the following day during spring migration (March 15 to June 15) and fall migration (August 15 to November 15).
Reduce as much of the light from your building as possible:
- Extinguish or dim all non-essential lighting from 11 pm to daylight.
- Down-shield exterior lighting to eliminate light directed upward.
- Turn off or dim decorative lighting on rooftops and upper stories after 11 pm until daylight. This includes lighting on antennas, logos, clock and other displays or illuminations.
- Extinguish, dim or block (shades/blinds/shutter) as much interior lighting as possible after 11 pm until daylight hours - particularly in building atriums and lobbies to prevent attracting birds towards glass facades.
- Install automatic motion sensors and controls wherever possible.
- schedule cleaning crews to work before 11 p.m. so that lights can be turned out for the rest of the night.
- Tenants on upper floors should turn lights off or close drapes or blinds after 11 pm until daylight.
Critical buildings for reducing as much light as possible, particularly top lighting and light directed upward:
BUILDINGS OVER 40 STORIES
BUILDINGS OVER 20 STORIES THAT ARE ISOLATED FROM OTHER BUILDINGS
BUILDINGS ALONG THE LAKEFRONT AND RIVER
This will make a big difference in bird safety and provide energy savings too!
Help Chicago continue as the city with the greatest participation in light reduction for bird safety in North America!
Write your city representatives to request that light reduction become a city ordinance that requires making the skyline safer for migrating birds!
For more information on "Lights Out Chicago", contact: Chicago Bird Alliance at 773-539-6793 or Chicago Bird Collision Monitors at 773-988-1867
Learn more about the benefits of light reduction at the Illinois Coalition for Responsible Outdoor Lighting.