On Mon, 27 Mar 1995, Jon Anderson wrote:

> I am uncertain about the effect of light pollution upon insect-eating
> birds, but it reminded me of a "wreck" I saw of Sooty Shearwaters at
> Westport, Washington in late August-early September of 1981. Dozens
> (hundreds?) of shearwaters had struck power wires, buildings, boat masts,
> etc in the Westport harbor area during a foggy, calm night.
>
> Now I wonder - why would shearwaters fly at night? They seem to be
> sight-feeders, pursuing their prey, which would not be to their advantage
> at night. Having read of accounts of bird strikes at the old lighthouses
> indicates that a number of our seabirds are active at night and are
> attracted to lights.
>

Much of their food (squid etc.) does vertical migration on a daily basis,
spending the light hours down deep, and ascending to near the surface at
night. Also, albatrosses, at least, have excellent senses of smell,
which may be related to feeding in the dark

Chris Hill
Seattle, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu