Lights Out Texas

Lights Out Texas is a campaign of education, awareness, and action that focuses on turning out lights at night during the spring and fall migrations to help protect the migratory birds that fly over Texas annually. We encourage everyone to turn off non-essential lights at night from 11 pm – 6 am during the fall migration period of August 15 – November 30.

Key Fall Dates:

Full Fall Migration Period: August 15 – November 30
Critical Peak Migration Period: September 5 – October 29

Lights Out Texas History:
This effort was originally launched in 2017 by Houston Audubon and American National Insurance Company following a major bird collision event involving 400 birds in Galveston. Right around this time, Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed their BirdCast migration forecast maps using historical radar data. Later, Lights Out Texas took hold in Dallas-Fort Worth, led by Texas Conservation Alliance, The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, and Dallas Zoo with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Colorado State University supporting efforts and Texan by Nature helping with outreach in fall 2020. In 2021, Texan by Nature (TxN) collaborated with these organizations to lead Lights Out Texas at the statewide level in order to standardize the approach to messaging, communication, and volunteer efforts across all Texas organizations.

Lights Out Texas Partners:
Texan by Nature and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology collaboratively coordinate Lights Out Texas efforts across the state. The following partners should be referred to as Lights Out Texas founding and coordinating partners in all communications regarding Lights Out Texas.