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NY lawmakers propose bill limiting artificial light at night

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NY lawmakers propose bill limiting artificial light at night

Two state lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation meant to limit outdoor lighting at night in order to better protect migrating birds.

The measure backed by Manhattan Sen. Brad Hoylman and Albany Assemblywoman Pat Fahy would require most non-essential outdoor lighting be turned off by 11 p.m., be motion activated or covered by an external shield.

The bill is meant to prevent birds who travel at night from becoming disoriented by bright nighttime lights and striking buildings

“Buildings don’t have to be bird killers,” Hoylman said. “On just one night this autumn, building workers found over 200 migratory birds dead at the base of two buildings in Manhattan. While Albany enacted legislation in 2014 to reduce excess light from state-owned buildings to help prevent migratory bird collisions, we must build on this success and reduce the impacts of artificial light throughout the state."

In New York City alone, it's estimated 90,000 to 230,000 birds are killed every year by striking buildings.

Goats and Soda : NPR

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How SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer could alter the course of the pandemic : Goats and Soda : NPR

Scientists have evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spreads explosively in white-tailed deer, and the virus is widespread in this deer population across the U.S.

Researchers say the findings are quite concerning and could have vast implications for the long-term course of the global pandemic.

Since SARS-CoV-2 first emerged, there have been several signs that white-tailed deer would be highly susceptible to the virus — and that many of these animals were catching it across the country.

A Long-Awaited Homecoming for Peregrine Falcons in the Finger Lakes | All About Birds All About Birds

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A Long-Awaited Homecoming for Peregrine Falcons in the Finger Lakes | All About Birds All About Birds

Just a few miles north of Ithaca, New York, Taughannock Creek (pro?nounced tuh-GAN-uck) carves between the sheer rock walls of a 400-foot gorge, dropping toward Cayuga Lake in a free-fall curtain of water taller than Niagara Falls. There’s a state park trail up this gorge, with a sun-faded sign at the trailhead that bears a mono?chrome photograph of a Peregrine Falcon perched by her cliffside nest, hulking protectively over three downy white chicks. Framed by the white waters of the Taughannock cataract, the peregrine mother is a picture of power: her velocity-hewn teardrop shape is steadfast, even as the film’s long exposure captures the water rushing by. Her gaze is transfixing, even through the sign’s grainy, faded ink and the century that now separates us.