COAL VALLEY, Ill. — Niabi Zoo is asking people to keep their homes dark Tuesday night as millions of migrating birds are expected to pass overhead.
BirdCast's bird migration forecast predicted peak bird migration Tuesday, September 21 in Moline, with more than 27,000 birds per kilometer.
"I saw a series of Tweets this morning from people asking what was moving at night on the local radar - birds, of course!" said Dr. Brian Peer, Western Illinois University ornithology professor and Quad Cities Audubon Society vice-president. "We've used radar for decades to study avian migration."
For several years, Peer and his students have been studying the annual spring and fall migration of birds along the corridor and comparing it to historical migratory patterns.
The Quad Cities is located along a major migratory corridor - the Mississippi River, Peer said, and we're currently in the middle of fall migration.
Monday night's cold front served as a cue for some birds to head back south, where they will spend the winter in warmer climates.
Many smaller birds, Peer said, like the ones to be seen Tuesday, will migrate during night's cooler temperatures to avoid predators and overheating. Larger species, like hawks and vultures, tend to migrate during the day when they can take advantage of the warm air.
As these smaller birds fly by Tuesday night, the Niabi Zoo recommends turning off all outdoor and indoor lights or closing curtains and blinds to ensure the birds' safe passage. Bright lights may disorient them and cause fatalities due to collisions.
"(Light pollution) is certainly an issue at the WIU campus and an even greater issue in major metropolitan areas like downtown Chicago," Peer said. "It really is a tragedy when you consider something like a ruby-throated hummingbird flies thousands of miles and even across the Gulf of Mexico to breed here, and then it dies after flying into one of our buildings."
