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Every spring and fall, billions of birds migrate at night, relying on stars to guide them. But when birds encounter brightly lit cities, artificial lights can disorient them, causing many to collide with unseen structures, such as buildings. These collisions kill an estimated 1 billion birds in North America each year.

“Birds play critical roles in our ecosystems, and they also delight millions of birdwatchers and naturalists alike,” said Rindy Anderson, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “I have devoted my career to studying birds, so their conservation is a priority for me. It would be sad and destructive if we lost dozens of species to extinction and even the most common birds became rare.”

Anderson and Kimberly Vardeman, assistant director of Florida Atlantic’s Center for Environmental Studies (CES), are spearheading efforts to make the university’s campuses safer for migrating birds. Through their grassroots “lights out” campaign, they aim to help reduce hazards during migration periods.

As part of the effort to identify the extent of the issue, Arielle Perry, a student in the environmental science master’s degree program and CES graduate research assistant, designed a survey to document bird collisions across Florida Atlantic’s campuses. The black-and-white warbler and the ovenbird are among the bird species at risk of colliding with windows in South Florida.

“It pains me to think that so many birds are harmed or killed due to collisions with buildings,” Perry said. “I wanted to provide an easy and accessible method to allow the Florida Atlantic community to actively get involved in tracking this unfortunate, but common occurrence.”