Lights out: the island that goes dark to save young seabirds – in pictures
Every autumn, Corvo Island in thre Azores turns off its public lighting for a few key days to help fledgling Cory’s shearwaters as they attempt to fly to the ocean guided by the stars Once a year, Corvo, the smallest and most northerly island of Portugal’s Azores archipelago, goes dark. Since 2019, the island’s 450 or so inhabitants have chosen to switch off the lights every autumn for five nights to tackle the disastrous effects of artificial light on Cory’s shearwaters, a seabird endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It began in 1991 when the community noticed huge numbers of deaths among young shearwaters. The juveniles spend three months in their nests before attempting their first flight to the ocean, orienting themselves by the stars. A newborn Cory’s shearwater chick Unfortunately, many are fatally confused by the artificial glow of streetlights, and end up crashing into Vila do Corvo’s…
