An island went dark so baby seabirds could fly

Corvo island went dark for five nights last week, from 9pm until 4am, and every resident had signed off on it. The small island in the Portuguese Azores, home to just over 400 people, cuts its public lighting during the final nights of October to protect young seabirds making their first flight out to sea. Birds like Cory's Shearwater leave the nest at night to dodge predators, but town lights blind them, and disoriented fledglings end up grounded. The Azores host roughly 65% to 75% of the world's breeding population of the species, so the stakes are local and global at once. Since 2019, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds has run the blackout with the municipal government, and volunteers collect the lost birds, sometimes in cardboard boxes. A survey of 207 residents found unanimous support. More than 30,000 fledglings have been rescued in the Azores since 2015, about 6,000 on Corvo alone.