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Diana here: I have no outside lighting, other than the front porch and some 'party lights' but those can easily stay off tonight. 21 MILLION birds through here overnight, tonight? Amazing!

Statewide alert issued asking people to dim lights for migrating birds (Wisconsin)

Businesses, residents, and municipal officials in Wisconsin are being asked to turn off non-essential outdoor lights on Wednesday night from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. to help protect migrating birds.

According to Craig Thompson, co-founder of Driftless Birds, approximately 21 million birds will migrate across Wisconsin overnight.

The glow from lights can disorient these birds as they fly at night, making them more likely to land in hazardous areas. Birds searching for food during the day may also collide with windows when they see reflections of trees and other habitats.

Light pollution has been growing globally by 10% each year due to urbanization and electrification. Research shows that light pollution—defined as the overuse and inefficient use of artificial light—significantly impacts both wildlife and human populations, according to the statement.

Additionally, Lights Out Alerts have been issued for eastern Wisconsin on Sept. 23 and for eastern and northern Wisconsin on Sept. 25.

Doing the 'Visual Merchandising' for Jung's was really the most FUN part of my job. I had such LOVELY product to work with - all locally grown, which was a great selling point. Of course, a lot of this beautiful stuff sold itself with no help from me whatsoever! And now that I'm Retired? Yep. I have TWO Mum plants on my front porch and that's it, LOL!

When my husband is out of town, I leave some lights on out in our yard, but out of respect for the birds, I will leave them off this time. I have never considered that birds migrate at night. I thought they all just go to sleep like I do!

Excitement from the butterfly habitat today. Last night when I went to bed, there were 4 that had emerged. Not long after I checked on them this morning, I saw 2 more emerged, then 2 more, and now one more. I expect I could have a few more emerge before the day’s end.

Once it warms up, they spend their time pumping their wings airing them out to dry. I opened up the habitat to see if any were ready, and before I was ready, a girl had flown onto my left forearm. It took me several seconds to get my phone out of my pocket, and get a quick photo. She took off as soon as I did that. I could hardly feel her once she had landed, but it tickled a little when she first got there. I was more surprised than anything.

I will keep checking on them periodically throughout the day. There should be one to three more that are primed for flying.

Oops, just checked before hitting post, and another has emerged! That makes 9 butterflies in the habitat, and 6 that have flown away! (3 boys and 3 girls have flown off and hopefully on their way back South.)