Community Events & Green Events
Nature Night: Saving Birds and Seeing Stars
Building a Sustainable Urban Landscape to Protect Birds and the Night Sky
Window collisions are one of the foremost threats facing wild bird populations today, killing up to 1 billion birds annually in the United States alone. At the first Nature Night of 2017, Portland Audubon’s BirdSafe Campaign Coordinator, Mary Coolidge, will give you an expert’s view behind the science of window collisions, the impacts of light pollution, and how we are working to mitigate these hazards.
Light pollution drowns out stars, confuses birds’ navigation, and lures them into lit areas where they may be entrapped and/or face additional daytime hazards. This year, Portland Audubon mobilized over 2,500 households and worked with our partners at the Lloyd EcoDistrict to solicit 13 iconic buildings to go Lights Out on September 30. Responsible lighting design meets a range of climate resiliency and sustainability objectives including energy efficiency, cost savings, ecological health, human health, and preservation of the night sky. Window collisions and light pollution are hazards with real solutions that can be implemented at all scales of development. It will be the cumulative actions of all of us that ultimately make the difference.
Mary Coolidge served as Portland Audubon’s Assistant Conservation Director from 2008 to 2012 and is now its BirdSafe Campaign Coordinator. She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lewis & Clark College in 1997 and spent a decade studying a wide array of bird species in both urban and rural environments. Mary is dedicated to making urban environments more hospitable to wildlife and helping connect people to nature and place.
Meet in Heron Hall.
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Location
Audubon Society of Portland
5151 NW Cornell Road
Portland, OR 97210
Event Sponsor Audubon Society of Portland