World Migratory Bird Day 2022

Every year, the second Sunday of May is World Migratory Bird Day. The UN initiated the day to draw attention to the global threats to migratory birds along their migration routes and to call for international cooperation. This year, the extremely important thematic focus is light pollution.

Many crane enthusiasts are probably aware that our cranes, as migratory birds, suffer from habitat loss and climate change accelerated by humans, for example, and that issues such as poaching are still topical. But on their migration, they are also exposed to dangers that we may not think of directly, such as light pollution.

Yet there are repeated reports of cranes being blinded by floodlights in poor weather and visibility conditions and having accidents. Since cranes, like many other migratory bird species, also migrate at night, light pollution is an extremely important issue. It leads to loss of orientation, straying from the migration path, or even disintegration of the formation.

So it is urgently time to address the question of how much of the nighttime lighting we actually need and what we can safely do without. For the sake of our migratory birds! And: more efficient and environmentally compatible lighting in both the private and commercial sectors will of course also benefit other species groups such as insects and bats to the greaest extent!