Thread by @wayfaringwilly

Last yr, I helped monitor birds & bugs at the pentagon #Sept11 memorial. It was devastating. I saw thousands of birds & insects revolving around the lights, disoriented & disrupted from their nightly travels.Thread.

Those tiny specs are hundreds of #birds.

Vid @allisonhuysman

The setup involved 30+ lights that projected beams super high into the air. I don’t know the specs of the height of the beams, but suffice to say you can see the light from very, very far away. The noise in the video is the sound of power needed to supply this setup. #birds

This yr I saw the light tonight & it made me sick to my stomach. I have so much sadness for what this light represents, but know that there are so many ways to memorialize lives & loved ones (art! Gardens! Annual poetry & livestreams!) that don’t involve affecting #wildlife.

I have never felt so at once in awe & in heartache. Bearing witness to the 1000s of species that were doing this incredible annual ritual that the billions of us don’t even know happens in our sleep was beyond words. So many nighthawks! Herons! All the warblers, thrushes, hawks!

Thankfully, the light team at the pentagon were willing to shut off the lights for small intervals during periods when our counts exceed 1000s, & it looks like periodic stopping of the light is happening tonight. But even w/ these, there are thousands of spp affected.

After the evening was ended, we checked around the lights to look for carcasses. It was absolute insect carnage. To think of all the insects that are affected—which is even harder to quantify than birds—just fills me w/ anger to know it’s so needless.

Thanks to ppl doing the work to monitor these events- ppl like Dr. Andrew Farnsworth, @Kyle__Horton, @bvdbirds, & others—we can get a better handle on the impact of these events. #birds

so we can try to mitigate the worst times for lights & reduce effects to #wildlife when light times coincide with peak fall migration events. #birds

/thread end

this work involves multiple cooperators like @NYCAudubon, multiple light production teams, security personnel, & others. We are really fortunate to have access to these sites to monitor #birds & insects & really appreciate how important this event is to so many people.