Ask Maine Audubon: Cities join Lights Out initiative to decrease bird-building collisions Your wildlife questions are answered by Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox. By DOUG HITCHCOX Share The Philadelphia skyline will be a bit dimmer and bird-friendly at key times of the year after Bird Safe Philly announced March 11, that Philadelphia is joining the national Lights Out initiative, a voluntary program in which as many external and internal lights in buildings are turned off or dimmed at night during the spring and fall bird migration seasons. Millions of birds annually migrate through Philadelphia during spring and fall and many are killed when they fly into buildings, confused by the bright artificial lights and glass.