Chicagoans told to turn off lights after birds hit building, die

Nearly 1,000 migrating birds hit a Chicago building and died
In turn, Gov. J.B. Pritzker urged residents to turn off their lights at night
Lights can be disorienting to birds as they migrate

Updated: Oct 7, 2023 / 09:31 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is cautioning residents to turn off their lights at night after nearly 1,000 migrating birds died Thursday when they flew into the windows of Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center.

The deaths led to the largest collection efforts the city’s Field Museum has documented in 40 years, the organization said on X, formerly Twitter.

“More than 600 million migrating birds are predicted to pass over our state just tonight,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Turn your lights off if you can and let’s help the birds on their way.”

Illuminated lights can be disorienting to birds, causing accidents, according to the Field Museum.

“When the birds don’t survive, their bodies are brought to the Museum, where they will be processed, cleaned by the museum’s flesh-eating beetle colony, and become part of our collection to inform future scientific research,” the museum wrote on X.