Attraction of nocturnally migrating birds to artificial light: The influence of colour, intensity and blinking mode under different cloud cover conditions

A growing number of offshore wind farms have led to a tremendous increase in artificial lighting in the marine environment. This study disentangles the connection of light characteristics, which potentially influence the reaction of nocturnally migrating passerines to artificial illumination under different cloud cover conditions. In a spotlight experiment on a North Sea island, birds were exposed to combinations of light colour (red, yellow, green, blue, white), intensity (half, full) and blinking mode (intermittent, continuous) while measuring their number close to the light source with thermal imaging cameras.