The problem posed by light pollution in Spain it is also affecting birds, especially marine ones, which fall to the ground by the thousands, dazzled by excessively powerful and poorly oriented lights. Alone on the island of Tenerife, and analyzing only one species, it has been verified that this autumn more than 3,300 birds fell to the ground, which had to be recovered and cared for to return them to the natural environment.
A total of 3,353 ashen shearwaters have been rescued this autumn on the island of Tenerife alone after falling to the ground victims of light pollution, that is, dazzled and blinded by excess artificial light at night. Of that amount, 3,207 could be released, thanks to the efforts made by entities and institutions.
According to SEO / BirdLife, this is “a figure never seen before” and that highlights a problem that this and other entities want to solve every year through different awareness campaigns.
This year’s – “Turn off the light on its first flight” – has had the involvement of thirteen actors and actresses from the television series Hierro, who requested the collaboration of citizens and institutions through a video.
Between October 10 and November 15, SEO / BirdLife maintained deployed a team made up of eight volunteers who received alert calls and carried out surveillance patrols in areas of maximum incidence, that is, where more artificial light is installed.
The field of action has been the municipalities of Santa Cruz, La Laguna, Güimar, Candelaria and El Rosario, where they were able to rescue about 435 shearwaters, 25 of which finally died. The days with the highest accidents were November 2, 3, 4 and 5.
In the rest of the island, the towns with the greatest activity have been those of Adeje and Arona, with 55.3% of the total number of injured shearwaters falling there.
The specimens returned to the natural environment were collected by personnel from the La Tahonilla Fauna Recovery Centers, in Tenerife, and Tafira, in Gran Canaria, each dependent on the Island Council, once they were evaluated by the veterinarians and verified that they were fit to be released.
All this has been possible, thanks to the citizen collaboration that alerted, through 112 or 900 28 22 28 (for Tenerife), of the discovery of injured specimens so that they could be rescued.
For Elena Ramos, technician from the Canary Islands SEO / BirdLife delegation, “it is time to unify efforts between the competent administrations, the companies that occupy the coast of the islands, the public and conservation organizations such as SEO / BirdLife, to reverse the consequences caused by light pollution on the fauna of the islands, making the Canarian sky a safe space for these tireless travelers who every year faithfully return to their breeding areas in the archipelago ”.
The data from the rest of the islands are in the period of analysis, and the results must be evaluated with caution because, to the total sum of rescued animals, the number of victims who are not found, or who fall in difficult areas should be added. access, and cannot be rescued by wildlife recovery center operatives or volunteers.
Thousands of victims every year
Outdoor lights affect thousands of specimens of seabirds. Every year, many chickens of these birds are attracted to artificial lights with which they collide in a considerable percentage and end up colliding and falling, being exposed to new threats such as abuses or predation.
This is a general phenomenon faced by the island councils, which coordinate rescue campaigns on all the islands, coinciding with the first flight of the Cinderella shearwater chickens to the sea, something that occurs every year towards the end of October and beginnings of November.
In these campaigns, specimens of the Cinderella shearwater are mainly rescued, but also other species such as the Bulwer’s petrel or the small and pichonet shearwaters.
SEO / BirdLife has also sent letters to the Administration, in which it has requested their firm commitment to keep public lighting off in areas considered black spots, due to the highest number of falls, or to reduce the number of luminaires during the most sensitive period (avenues, soccer fields and other sports fields, etc.) and that they integrate the objective of changing the municipal lighting into their agendas. Citizens also help with a simple gesture such as turning off or reducing the exterior light of the homes.
The actors of `Hierro´ ask for less light
The television series ‘Hierro’ showed through spectacular images the peculiar geography of the Canary Island of the same name and also let viewers listen to the singular and disconcerting “guaña, guaña” emitted by one of the flagship species, the Cinderella shearwater canary
That is why SEO / BirdLife has sought on this occasion the involvement of its actors and actresses when launching a campaign for which it has also requested collaboration from individuals, Administrations, companies or other groups.
