Our World

Lights Out to Save Hawaiian Birds

The Hawaiian island of Kauai is desperately trying to reduce the amount of unnecessary lights at night due to the rapid decline of native birds. The Hawaiian petrel, the band-rumped storm-petrel, and the Newell's shearwater are the three birds that are close to becoming endangered species. These birds are nocturnal, and navigated using the light of the moon. However, artificial lights can confuse them, causing them to crash into telephone poles or other objects. They have been found in the mornings lying on the ground injured, or sometimes even dead. Over the past 25 years, a bird rescue program has been in place on Kauai, but it has failed to reduced the death of birds. Because of this, the populations have declined, and now there are only 300 known Hawaiian petrels left on Kauai. And with no intervention, the population of the Newell’s shearwater is projected to drop six percent within the next ten years.

These birds spend most of their time at sea; however, every two and a half years, the petrel and shearwater return to Kauai to nest. And although the birds are present elsewhere on the islands, 85 percent of them nest on Kauai. But when the young birds mature, they try to navigate out to sea, and that’s when the accidents happen. Confused by all the lights of the island, they veer off course and become injured.

The positive news is that Kauai is making dramatic steps to end this problem. Local fire stations have overnight drop off boxes for birds that are injured. In the morning they are collected, then taken to specialist veterinarians. And with this, the birds have a 95% chance of survival. Also, the island is making an effort to cut out unnecessary lights. For instance, The Fish and Wildlife Service has asked between September 15 to December 15, all unessential lights are to be turned off. This is because it is the time young birds begin to venture out towards the sea. Malls, restaurants, resorts and parking lots are all part to this campaign. Also, the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has darkened 3,000 streetlights, shielding some and completely turning off others.

This is another example of how globalization and technology are causing problems in the natural world. However, through cooperation and planning, us humans are able to fix and prevent this situations, keeping the world as unaffected as possible.

Hawaii Island Dims Lights to Save Crashing Birds

posted by Anonymous @ 9/20/2006 09:03:00 PM