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lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
lights out for migrating birds
@lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.9K following 3.4K posts
but man is a part of nature & his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself-Silent Spring, R.Carson
volunteer🌱🐝🌳🐟🐛🐦🦇
lights out 4 migrating birds 11pm-6am,
bird friendly windows flap.org
birdmonitors.net
ahnow.org
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lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
youtu.be/qJwsJhFK98o?...
quite well from the fossil record. Even just what we've recorded, not taking into consideration the species that we miss, because many species of course have very small ranges, they're very tiny, they live in a very cryptic lifestyle. Most extinctions actually go unnoticed until well after they've occurred. So even if we just look at the ones that we definitely know go on extinct that we've observed, we're looking at an extinction rate that's about sort of an average of about a thousand times the rate that occurs between these mass extinction events. That's what we're in now. And everything that we look at points to the fact that it's perhaps even larger than that. So while we haven't achieved that threshold yet, we're on the way. And even more strikingly is that it's not going to happen in two and a half million years. It's going to be a century scale event. So this is potentially the largest mass extin-or I'd say the most important or the highest magnitude mass extinction event that has ever occurred in the history of planet Earth. It's happening now.
December 7, 2025 at 6:15 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
& the paper in the article is minimizing the 6th extinction so it’s being shared widely on x by climate deniers. reality is many well known species are on the edge of existence. here is how Corey Bradshaw explains the 6th mass extinction much better than that frustrating paper
quite well from the fossil record. Even just what we've recorded, not taking into consideration the species that we miss, because many species of course have very small ranges, they're very tiny, they live in a very cryptic lifestyle. Most extinctions actually go unnoticed until well after they've occurred. So even if we just look at the ones that we definitely know go on extinct that we've observed, we're looking at an extinction rate that's about sort of an average of about a thousand times the rate that occurs between these mass extinction events. That's what we're in now. And everything that we look at points to the fact that it's perhaps even larger than that. So while we haven't achieved that threshold yet, we're on the way. And even more strikingly is that it's not going to happen in two and a half million years. It's going to be a century scale event. So this is potentially the largest mass extin-or I'd say the most important or the highest magnitude mass extinction event that has ever occurred in the history of planet Earth. It's happening now.
December 7, 2025 at 4:51 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
am in umbria @AmUmbria X.com Killing ESA listed animal is federal offense. should be reported to USFWS. Voyageurs Wolf Project @VoyaWolfProje..•1d Illegal killing of wolves is one of, if not the single most common cause of death for wolves in Minnesota and across much of the Northern Hemisphere. And one of the largest peaks of illegal killing in Minnesota and other Great Lakes States is during deer hunting season in Show more
December 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
December 6, 2025 at 4:23 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
from interview with Sofia Pineda Ochoa, creator of Greenwashed
about it. But if I could, I'd love to ask him, Mr. DiCaprio, do you think the other species you rightfully care so much about stand a chance if we continue the kind of population growth we are having? Mr. DiCaprio also advocates for the forests in Brazil. And I'm glad he does, because thousands and thousands of acres are being torched and turned into farmlands every day. An area equivalent to 987,000 football pitches was deforested in Brazil in just one year. But my question for Mr. DiCaprio and for all of the environmentalists who are silent about population is, do you believe those beautiful forests in Brazil, in Indonesia and elsewhere stand a chance of remaining as forests when we have a global human population that is growing by a new Germany every year? Do you think that the fact that we grow our numbers by a net growth of a million people every five days has no relationship with the relentless deforestation we are causing and the death and suffering of so many species who are losing their habitats? It makes my hand tremble, just like two things.
December 4, 2025 at 2:23 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
from transcript of interview with Ben Goldfarb, author of book Crossings
www.bengoldfarb.com/crossings
great example of how really it is sprawl and development that in so many cases is the primary obstacle to these wildlife corridors remaining intact. I think that one of the inherent conflicts on our landscapes is that good human habitat and good wildlife habitat is one and the same. We both like these broad, fertile, floodplain valleys. That's where animals like to live, and that's where we put our roads and railroads and power lines and golf courses and condos and other infrastructure. And, you know, animals can make do, to some extent, moving upslope, but that's not really where the good habitat is. And, you know, unfortunately, most of our protected areas in North America aren't awesome wildlife habitat, right? You know, we've protected a lot of rock and ice, as the saying of some conservationist goes. You know, we protect those beautiful mountains that, you know, John Muir loved to go hiking in. Well, that's not really where the animals, at least a lot of them, want to be, right? They want to be down in the valleys where it's not so cold and there's not as much
December 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
Advanced technologies created dependency; they took tools and processes out of the hands of individuals and put them into the metaphorical hands of organizations. "
December 3, 2025 at 12:17 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
youtu.be/O2R9ji3Y5bA?...
Lyle Lewis 12h A Conversation About Extinction, Humanity, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves The newest episode of Science Talk just dropped, and it's one of the most wide-ranging conversations l've had publicly. We talked about extinction not as theory, but as a lived process reshaping every part of the biosphere — including us. We began with the arc of my career in wild places and what it means to work on behalf of species without a public voice. Those experiences shaped why I believe the Sixth Mass Extinction didn't begin with fossil fuels, but 2.5 million years ago, when early hominins first stepped onto an ecological path no other species had taken. We examined how romanticism, human exceptionalism, and our blindness to deep time distort our understanding of our situation - and why "doomer" has become a pejorative aimed at people who see our ecological effects clearly. And then the central question: Are humans the culmination of evolution, or simply the latest species to mistake its power for permanence? Every mass extinction produces winners and losers. This episode explores where we stand — and whether survival is still possible. If you want a deeper dive into the ideas behind the book and the uncomfortable truths shaping our future, this conversation is a good place to start.
December 3, 2025 at 11:22 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
State of the Worlds Birds 2022 report: Bird populations are in decline around the world & extinction risk is escalating due to human activities www.birdlife.org/wp-content/u...
Extinction risk is escalating W e are in the midst of an extinction crisis. It is widely acknowledged that the planet is facing its sixth mass extinction event, with the current extinction rate tens to hundreds of times faster than the average over the last 10 million years. Up to a million plant and animal species are now estimated to be threatened with extinction, many of which may disappear within decades. The extinction risk of birds has been repeatedly assessed by BirdLife International for the IUCN Red List since 1988, providing the longest trend data for any group of species. Many bird species have already gone extinct At least 187 bird species are confirmed or suspected to have gone extinct since 1500. The majority of these extinctions have been endemic island species, including 33 from Hawaii, 32 from the Mascarene Islands, 20 from New Zealand, and 16 from French Polynesia, most of which were killed off by introduced mammals. However, more recently there has been an upsurge in continental bird extinctions, particularly in highly fragmented tropical regions. Brazil has lost two bird species endemic to its Atlantic forest in the last two decades - Cryptic Treehunter Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi - while a third, Pernambuco Pygmy-owl Glaucidium mooreorum, has not been recorded since 2001 and is therefore also suspected to be extinct. Bird extinctions per quarter-century since 1500 Island extinctions Continental extinctions Extinctions per 25 years 25 20 0 1500 1525 1550 1575| 1600 1625 1650 1675 1700 1725 1750 1775| 1800| 1825| 1850| 1875| 1900| 1925| 1950| 1975| 2000 St Helena Hoopoe Upupa antaios One of the earliest well-documented avian extinction waves was on St Helena shortly after the island's discovery in 1502. Six species went extinct during 1500-1750. Data from Butchart et al. 2018. Rodrigues Starling Necropsar rodericanus Thirty-two bird species were driven extinct on the Mascarene Islands during 1600-1875 … Many important sites for birds are in an unfavourable condition H ealthy, functioning ecosystems within key sites are vital for supporting species and providing ecosystem services. However, as the human population grows, our towns, cities and agricultural lands are increasingly encroaching on important sites for nature, and the habitats within them are becoming degraded by threats such as logging, pollution and invasive species. Although up-to-date monitoring information is not available for all Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), the available data suggest that c.45% are in an unfavourable condition. Of these, 277 currently qualify as 'IBAs in Danger - sites of international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity that are in an extremely poor state and in urgent need of conservation action. Over half of forest within Key Biodiversity Areas identified for forest species no longer has high integrity Forests are home to nearly two-thirds of all bird species, including 996 (71%) globally threatened species. However, forests in Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs, most of which have been identified for birds) across the world are being lost, fragmented and degraded by timber harvesting, development and expanding agriculture. The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLIl) describes the ecological integrity of the world's forests using data on forest extent, threats and changes in connectivity. Analysis of the FLII in KBAs that contain forest and have been identified for forest species reveals that only 44% (1.7 million km*) of the forest extent within these KBAs is classified as high integrity, while 39% is medium integrity and 18% is low integrity. KBAs in South America, Africa and Asia have the greatest amount of high integrity forest, both in terms of total area and proportion, while KBAs in Central America, the Caribbean and Europe have the highest proportion of low integrity forest. Loss of forest integrity in these sites reduces their cap… Bird populations are in decline around the world D ata from the IUCN Red List show that 49% of bird species worldwide (5,412) have declining populations, while 38% (4,234) are stable, just 6% (659) are increasing and 6% (693) have unknown trends. Declines are not restricted to rare and threatened species - even common and widespread species are declining rapidly in some cases. Although decline rates in these common species may not be great enough to classify them as globally threatened, the substantial reduction in the number of individuals is likely to impact ecosystem function and the provision of ecosystem services. More than 3 billion birds have been lost across North America and the EU in the last half-century The most comprehensive long-term monitoring data for birds come from Europe and North America, where surveys started almost 50 years ago. Analysis of these survey data reveals the scale of loss of total bird abundance. There has been a net loss of 2.9 billion birds (29%) in North America since 1970. These losses have been most severe in species associated with grassland and those that migrate, with respective net losses of 700 million individuals across 31 species and 2.5 billion individuals across 419 species. A similar trend has occurred in the European Union, which has experienced a net loss of 560-620 million birds (17-19%) since 1980 from an area five times smaller. Patterns of loss are similar to those in North America - long-distance migrants have fared worse than resident species, while farmland birds have shown the most significant declines. In both regions, losses are driven primanly by declines in a subset of common and abundant species. NORTH AMERICA decline in aerial 40% nectares 1906-2013 decline in grassland 42% чре 164-208 decine in aridiand 37% чресь 1968-2018 decline in forest 14% proais 1538-2018 COSTA RICA 62% tooc Portutor of bird populations in countryside declined 1999-2010 Declines are widespread across the globe Data on long-term …
December 3, 2025 at 11:16 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
from Ben Goldfarb essay An Abundance of Concrete
question: "What is scarce that should be abundant?" To their minds, those absences include housing, clean energy, and scientific innovation, which, they argue, are largely constrained by pesky laws and regulations imposed by well-meaning liberals. In my own naive, biophilic little brain, though, the word "scarcity" primarily conjures the wild critters that our planet is hemorrhaging. Scarcity is the nearly 3 billion birds missing from North America, the 81 percent decline in migratory fish, the Insect Apocalypse. It's the Florida panther and the smalltooth sawfish and the boreal toad and the grasshopper sparrow. It's the phenomenon that some scientists have cheerily dubbed "biological annihilation"— the tendency, in our human-dominated age, of once-abundant animals to become, well, rare.
December 3, 2025 at 10:43 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
nuthatch laugh
December 2, 2025 at 1:46 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
Lyle Lewis @Race2Extinct X.com Old growth vs. new growth isn't about "succession models." It's about structure. You can reject linear succession and still recognize that the cavities, canopies, soils, fungi, and microclimates wildlife depend on take centuries to form, not 40-80 years. Tony @Italian_Hiker•47m I hate to be a contrarian here but the idea of old growth vs new growth assumes an idea of ecological succession which as a model has been pretty thoroughly discredited in favor of a state-and-transition approach. x.com/race2extinct/s... 4:08 PM • 11/30/25 • 122 Views 1 12 贝1 L CitizenoftheWorld @Citizenofthe..•28m X Humans are so obtuse, ignorant it's actually very fitting and entertaining 1 Ilil 6 冂 Lyle Lewis • @Race2Extinct • 25m Entertainment isn't my goal, but seems to be coincidental to my efforts on social media.
December 1, 2025 at 12:43 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
@Race2Extinct Exactly. Forest cover can come back fast. Old growth can't. Vermont looks "80% forested," but ecologically it's a hollowed out shadow of the forest ecosystems that existed 250 years ago. lawrence @lcagee.9h The state of Vermont was mostly old growth wilderness in late 1700s. By 1900 the old growth forest were mostly clear-cut and the state was only 20% forested. Now it is about 80% forest but only a few acres of old growth remain. An 80 year old tree i... 4:59 AM • 11/30/25 • 61K Views 22 せ 441 Relevant v 4K 170 View quotes › brandon brown @brandonbro16424• 5h Someone told me that Oregon is all second growth. I've been there and it's beautiful, but I can't imagine how beautiful it was 250 years ago. 2 93 Ihl 1.9K Lyle Lewis • @Race2Extinct • 5h There are tiny remnants left. Very tiny. It's why northern spotted owls are on a fast track to extinction.
November 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
History Defined @historydefined Subscribe "Before I was six years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are." Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation (November 10, 1939 - October 22, 2012).
November 30, 2025 at 6:53 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
THE HALL OF INFAMY: A Global Century of Environmental Supervillains
A century of leaders who liquidated the living world--and left us the bill.
by Lyle Lewis
open.substack.com/pub/lylel/p/...
Every era celebrates its conservation heroes. Far fewer remember the destroyers. But the world we inhabit was shaped far more by the people and institutions who treated land, water, species, and climate as expendable than by those who understood nature as the foundation of life itself. This piece is a record of that legacy: a Hall of Infamy for those who turned stewardship into self-interest, and the living world into capital.
November 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
graphic was shared with me from bird emergency australia
Each year foxes kill... Each year cats kill... 88 million 466 (*609) million Fox population in Australia 17 million foxes Cover 80% of Australia Average density = 1 fox per 4 km' 111 mallion 368 million 197 m Reptiles 510 m Birds 265 (*399) million Cat population in Australia 28 milion feral cats (*6.6 milion including pet cats) Cover 99.9% of Australia Average density = 1 cat per 4 km° 815 (*1,087) million Findings from Stobo-Whion ef al Diversity and Distributions, 2022 1,435 m Mammals 2.642 billion animals killed each year Frogs and also kited buf were noe included in the study
November 25, 2025 at 11:50 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
art4cc @ArtForCC He didn't lose his fear of us. He lost his home because of us. PROTECT WILDLIFE HABITATS BEFORE THEY'RE GONE.
November 25, 2025 at 1:15 AM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/birdhist...
So I read some more, and then I started to write. I learned about how John James Audubon ate every. bird that he painted. I learned that nearly everyone used to sleep on a featherbed, and that packing one took the feathers from 1,700 passenger pigeons. I learned that if you were rich, you ate canvasback duck, and if you weren't, you ate robin pie. I learned that the battle to keep cats from killing birds goes back more than a century, that millions of kids used to celebrate Bird Day, that house sparrows were attacked in nativist terms, and that Italian immigrants were attacked for hunting songbirds. Learning and sharing these stories has been one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.
November 24, 2025 at 8:09 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/maxwilbe...
Max Wilbert Nov 7 • •• "Dozens of species are driven extinct every day, most before they are even identified. Even common species that are a long way from extinction are rapidly declining in abundance. Insect abundance is declining between 2 and 5 percent per year around the world, leading one expert to comment, 'we're talking about nearly half the tree of life disappearing in one human lifetime!"
November 23, 2025 at 2:56 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/lylel/p/...
LYLE'S SUBSTACK The Moral Comfort of Numbers How the Endangered Species Act turned survival into a statistic-and why our faith in numbers may be blinding us to loss. LYLE LEWIS NOV 23, 2025
November 23, 2025 at 2:25 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
Corporate needs you to find the differences between this picture and this picture. They're the same picture. picture shows a photo of a bay breasted warbler next to a blackpoll warbler
November 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
SPIRIT fall warbler Includes: wingbars eyering chest markings ADULT Size Costume ONE CIZE FITS MOST
October 31, 2025 at 12:35 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
RoostersWordja & @RoostersWorldja X.com Ever think about it? When we walk into a cave full of roosting bats, maybe we're the monsters in their story. #RoostersWorldja #BatAwareness #NASBR off the mark.com by Mark Parisi ALL SAFE! THERE ARE NO MONSTERS OVER YOUR BED! offthemark.com €2022 Mark Parisi Dist by Andrews McMeel Get a signed print: otmCartoon@gmail.com G-17
October 31, 2025 at 12:31 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
👻 happy halloween 🦇

please keep cats inside for their own safety from the cruelty of humans & cars, but also to protect smaller wildlife

cats kill billions of birds, amphibians, reptiles & small mammals annually

please do not use fake spider web, it is deadly to wildlife & environment 👣⌛️💀
October 31, 2025 at 12:17 PM
lightsoutforbirds.bsky.social
www.wildbirdfund.org

to report injured or dead bird in chicago area birdmonitors.net
WBF vila Dira runa @wildbirdfund s.com Meep meep. The woodcocks are back in town! The fall return of the American woodcocks fills us with both excitement and dread. Everyone's favorite funky dancer is a joy to spot in the city parks, but far too many fall victim to window collisions. "O: Phyllis Tseng
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 AM