PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Starting at midnight, several of Philadelphia's skyscrapers will go dark through the end of May to help prevent migratory birds from flying into buildings and dying.
The Lights Out Philly program started after 73-year-old Stephen Maciejewski discovered more than 1,000 dead birds in Center City in October 2020. The animals died after crashing into windows of buildings.
On Oct. 2, 2020, thousands of birds were killed in Center City after striking buildings.Stephen Maciejewski
Birds Safe Philly was created in response to that event, followed by the creation of Lights Out Philly. Property managers and owners are asked to turn lights off from midnight to 6 a.m. so migrating birds won't get disoriented with lights and fly into windows. In addition to dimming lights at night, window decals spaced two inches apart are encouraged.
Maciejewski spends his mornings as a monitor, looking for dead birds in Center City.
"I feel like I'm some kind of undertaker or something," said the retired social worker and Audubon Society volunteer.
Stephen Maciejewski, a retired social worker and Audubon Society volunteer, holds a dead golden-crowned kinglet.John McDevitt/KYW Newsradio
"I have a sheet where I record everything. I put the location with the compass direction, what side of the building we found it on and whether it was on the sidewalk or awning."
Maciejewski takes photos, records the data, puts the dead birds in a plastic bag and drops them off to a freezer at the Academy of Natural Sciences, where they eventually will end up in its museum's collection. Injured birds are sent to a rehabilitation center.
The effort appears to be working.
"In 2021 I had about 262 birds in the spring time and in 2022, I had 162. A lot less."
