Missouri’s iconic American landmark, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, is taking measures to ensure the safety of spring migrating birds that follow the Mississippi River to their summer nesting grounds.
Since its unveiling in 1965, the arch has illuminated the cityscape at night with lights. However, during the entire month of May, officials will be switching off the lights at night to help facilitate a secure passage for more than 325 bird species that follow this route during their annual spring migration.
According to Jeremy Sweat, Superintendent of Gateway Arch National Park, “St. Louis sits right beneath the Mississippi Flyway, a major migration highway.”
For more than a decade, the exterior lights of the Gateway Arch have been turned off for two weeks in May and again in September to reduce the potential disorienting effect it has on migratory birds. However, this year, the park will keep the lights off for the entire month of May. Gateway Arch National Park is collaborating with Lights Out Heartland, which is an organization dedicated to helping provide safe passage for migrating birds along the Flyway during the peak migration months of May and September.
The St. Louis Audubon Society estimates that sixty percent of North American songbirds and forty percent of waterfowl will migrate this spring and fall.
According to Pamela Sanfilippo, who happens to work at Gateway Arch National Park, “Other ways we are trying to help the birds is to focus the lights better on the Arch.” She goes on to say that way, “light doesn’t go up into the sky.”
The Gateway Arch, which is a towering silver monument, was originally constructed to honor the Lewis and Clark Expedition initiated by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804. This expedition mapped a path to the Pacific Ocean from the heart of the continent, with two scientists leading a team of scouts and mapmakers from the river port of Saint Louis. Today, the Gateway Arch attracts approximately 1.62 million visitors annually.
Meanwhile, Toronto in Canada has taken significant steps to address the hazards posed by glass buildings to birds. It has even made history by becoming the first city in the world to mandate bird-friendly buildings. The exterior lights of the Gateway Arch will be switched back on from the evening of June 1, 2023, and will continue to illuminate the monument nightly until September.
Other cities and states along different migration routes, such as Texas and Philadelphia, have also started turning off lights to protect birds in recent years.
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