As spring settles over Toronto and we start to enjoy longer days and warmer nights, there’s an important conversation we need to have—one that involves our city’s bright lights and the millions of birds passing through our skies.
Each year, Toronto becomes a crucial stopover for migratory birds navigating the Great Lakes region. Our position along Lake Ontario makes this city a lifeline for these birds. But ironically, it’s also a death trap.
Night-migrating birds, often flying for hours in the dark, are drawn to the bright city lights. What looks magical to us is dangerously disorienting to them. Once they veer off course into urban areas, the result is too often fatal—window collisions that kill tens of millions of birds in Canada each year. Let that sink in: tens of millions.
Toronto’s Lights Out campaign is more than just a feel-good initiative—it’s a call to action that literally asks us to flip a switch. Turn off unnecessary lights. Close your curtains if you’ve got lights on at night. Ditch the decorative lighting and strobes. That’s it. It’s a simple fix that doesn’t cost much effort, but the impact is massive.
The city has made strides—requiring bird-safe glass and responsible lighting in new developments since 2006—but buildings alone aren’t the only culprits. Homes, condos, office towers, retail spaces—all of it adds up to one glowing maze of confusion for birds.
Organizations like FLAP Canada have been sounding the alarm for years: we’ve lost an estimated three billion birds in North America over the past 25 years. That’s not just staggering, it’s heartbreaking. And we can’t chalk it all up to climate change or habitat loss. Window strikes are a major piece of the puzzle—one we can actually do something about.
Turning off a few lights might seem like a small act. But imagine if thousands of us did it together. Imagine millions of birds safely making it through our city instead of being found stunned—or worse—on sidewalks come morning.
Toronto has a reputation for being green-minded and progressive. Let’s live up to it. As the season of migration ramps up, we have a choice. Let’s make this city a beacon of safety, not confusion. Let’s flip the switch—for the birds.
