Greensboro City urges residents and businesses to turn off lights to protect migrating birds

An agency official for Greensboro City urged residents and property managers to dim nighttime lighting to help migrating birds.

“Turn out your lights and save a bird,” the agency official said, announcing the city’s Lights Out for Birds program and noting a partnership with the T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society as the city prepares for the spring migration season. The official said the program was first launched in 2022.

The official described the initiative as voluntary and said it encourages Greensboro neighbors, businesses and building managers to turn off nonessential lights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. through May 31. The announcement directed people to tgpearsonaudubon.org/lightsout for more information on how to participate.

The city framed the effort as a seasonal, community-based effort to reduce risks to migrating birds from artificial light at night. No regulations, votes or funding actions were announced; the city presented the campaign as an outreach and participation request rather than a mandatory rule.