Over the last month, conservationists and volunteers traveled the islands of Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands, saving 800 seabirds that fell to the ground due to artificial lighting.
The teams, led by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) and the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO BirdLife), as part of the LIFE Natura@night project, funded by the European Union, involve hundreds of volunteers to help ensure that the Juvenile birds succeed in their first trip to the sea.
This autumn, seabird rescue campaigns in Madeira saved 123 birds, thanks to the joint effort of 93 volunteers.
In the Azores, more than 300 volunteers saved 119 birds in Graciosa, 154 in Corvo and 357 in São Miguel, while in the Canaries 31 volunteers helped more than 130 birds reach the sea in Tenerife. Numbers of only 5 islands, out of a total of 20 that form the three archipelagos. This is just the tip of the iceberg of a threat that increasingly concerns conservationists: light pollution.
In these three archipelagos alone, it is estimated that 1,100 seabirds die every year due to light pollution – an especially serious problem given that these are breeding grounds for these species that belong to the most threatened group of birds in the world.
Well don’t to all involved, a very good job.