Artificial light has essentially lengthened birds’ day : NPR

The early bird gets the worm, as the old saying goes. And now a lot of birds around the globe are starting their days earlier than ever, because of unnaturally bright skies caused by light pollution.

"For these birds, effectively their day is almost an hour longer. They start vocalizing about 20 minutes earlier in the morning and they stop vocalizing about 30 minutes later in the evening," says Neil Gilbert , a wildlife ecologist with Oklahoma State University.

That's the conclusion of a sweeping study that analyzed bird calls from over 500 bird species in multiple continents, giving researchers an unprecedented look at how human-created lights are affecting the daily lives of birds worldwide.

Scientists already knew that light pollution affects birds. It can send migrating bird