Good For Birds and Animals
For many animals, a natural night sky signals when to eat, sleep, hunt, migrate and even when to reproduce. According to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), estimates show that half of all life on earth begin their daily activities at sundown.
Following are examples of Dark Skies benefits for some of the world’s creatures.
Birds
Birds that migrate or hunt at night navigate by moonlight and starlight. Artificial lights can cause them to wander off course towards dangerous nighttime landscapes of cities. Every year, millions of birds die when they collide with illuminated buildings and towers.
Frogs and toads
Glare from artificial lights can impact inhabitants of wetland habitats including frogs and toads whose nighttime croaking is part of the breeding ritual. Artificial lights disrupt this nocturnal activity, interfering with reproduction, which reduces populations.
Coral
More than 130 different species of coral on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef spawn new life by moonlight. Bright urban lights can mask the moon’s phases, throwing the corals’ biological clocks out of sync.
Sea turtles
Sea turtles live in the ocean but hatch at night on the beach. Hatchlings find the sea by detecting the bright horizon over the ocean. Artificial lights draw them away from the ocean. In Florida alone, millions of hatchlings die this way every year.
The following wildlife in the Leduc area is also affected by too much artificial night light:
- Bats
- Hummingbirds
- Insects
- Mice
- Monarch butterflies
- Owls
- Songbirds
- Sweat bees