A maze of glass and glow: How artificial light threatens Nebraska’s migratory birds | Nebraska Public Media
A maze of glass and glow: How artificial light threatens Nebraska’s migratory birds | Nebraska Public Media # A maze of glass and glow: How artificial light threatens Nebraska’s migratory birds By Hannah Nazarenus, News intern Sept.
nebraskapublicmedia.org · September 8, 2026
A maze of glass and glow: How artificial light threatens Nebraska’s migratory birds | Nebraska Public Media
# A maze of glass and glow: How artificial light threatens Nebraska’s migratory birds
By Hannah Nazarenus, News intern
Sept. 8, 2026, 4:42 p.m. ·
Sandhill cranes tend to flock to the Platte River around dawn and dusk. These cranes were basking in the river water during the daytime, likely because of the increased heat that day. (Macy Byars/Nebraska Public Media News)
Each year, millions of birds make their migration across Nebraska’s dark skies. These birds, most commonly songbirds like sparrows, finches, thrushes and warblers, depend on the darkness, stars and moon to find their way.
Seventy-five percent of North America’s 900 bird species migrate, and 80% of those species migrate at night. Under the cover of darkness and cooler temperatures, birds can conserve energy, avoid predators and use natural sources of light to guide them.
In the United States and Canada, nearly 99% of people live under skies polluted with artificial lights. These lights can disorient and confuse birds, which are adapted to detecting natural light from the sky.
Nighttime migratory birds navigate using the position of the stars and constellations. Additionally, a magnetic mineral in their bills allows them to sense changes in Earth's magnetic fields, which becomes stronger the closer they move towards the poles.
Drawn to the artificial lights of buildings, birds fly toward large structures and into cities along their migratory route. Nearly one billion birds in the U.S. die in building collisions each year.
Kaitlyn Parkins, a glass collisions program coordinator with the American Bird Conservancy, said most collisions happen during the day because of how artificial light sets birds up for danger overnight.
“The sky glow from all of our collective lights tend to draw birds into the built environment for stopover during migration,” Parkins said. “And the next morning, when they wake up to feed and fly around and forage, they’re surrounded by a maze of glass.”
When birds collide with buildings, they become stunned and may fly away, only to die somewhere else from internal injuries, or they become tired and disoriented, never making it to their destination. Fatalities can also be caused by birds flying around confused and wasting energy, which can leave them vulnerable to other threats.
Paul Pearson, president of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, said that with declining numbers, every bird matters.
“We need to give them a chance to be able to complete their migration and go to their breeding grounds, to be able to keep these species going.”
Since 1991, Audubon chapters, Dark Sky advocates and bird lovers across the United States and Canada have been promoting “Lights Out” programs. These programs raise awareness about the dangers of artificial lights at night for migratory birds, while encouraging businesses and homeowners to turn off unnecessary lights during fall and spring migration windows.
“This is an issue that is traditionally associated with cities and skyscrapers, but these buildings actually only make up about 1% of total collisions,” Parkins said. “Fourty-four percent of all collisions happen at homes, and 56% happen at mid-rise buildings. This is something we absolutely know how to solve, and everyone can make a difference. “
While voluntary Lights Out initiatives have spread nationwide, formalized legal protections are also gaining traction.
“We’re getting close to 30 municipalities, states, cities and counties that have mandatory bird-friendly building requirements in their building code,” Parkins said.
Typically, these requirements mandate bird-friendly materials for a certain percentage of glass up to a certain height, usually 100 feet or lower, where most collisions occur.
American Bird Conservancy-backed legislation includes New York City’s Local Law 15, which requires 90% of the glass up to 75 feet in height to be bird friendly, with patterns, etching or ultraviolet coating, that birds can see.
In Nebraska, there is no formal legislation. Pearson believes it will take cooperation from all sides to make a difference.
“I think the biggest thing for Nebraska is that we need to start one of these programs and get buy in from both businesses, and the public especially," he said.
For a live look into bird migration numbers and paths, BirdCast map uses the U.S. weather surveillance radar network in near real time. The brighter the colors on the map, the higher the migration traffic rate is.
“We have a lot of migrants, and we have a lot of breeding birds, and they all depend on being able to survive those journeys,” Pearson said. “Whether it’s from somewhere else to here, or through Nebraska."