Danger of lights at night

[marie83]

theres been studies on people and light to so I wouldn't suggest a nightlight for a child, get them used to the dark from the off. I imagine most other animals would have "issues" with constant light too other than what is reflected by the moon.

[liz]

In the wild they would have moon light. I believe pitch dark causes night fright. It does me. I open my eyes while sleeping and if the room is completely dark I wake up. I leave the light on over my kitchen sink. It does not shine on the birds but they can see light at a distance.

[Pajarita]

Liz, I can assure you that pitch black night does not cause night frights. I lived smack in the middle of a 5 acre property and the house was surrounded by old forest trees (very tall, very big) and, when you looked out the window, you not only couldn't see a single human light anywhere but it was also really, really dark even when the moon was out and I never, ever, ever had a single bird have a night fright in the five years I lived there - and I had a tiel flock of more than 30 birds!

[nerdybird]

Well, I've started leaving a nightlight on for about 20 minutes after I cover them, then turning it off. I think the gradual darkness is less startling for them. Zelda no longer growls when I turn the lights off and cover her cage.

[Wolf]

Great, I am glad to hear this. YaY!!

[Pajarita]

I am glad you found a solution but I am puzzled by your 'gradual darkness' statement because that is exactly what dusk is and why birds need to be fully exposed to it so, unless there are artificial lights interfering with the natural twilight and gradual darkening of the evening into night, you should already get the same effect naturally.

[nerdybird]

The way my apartment is placed in the building, natural light is unfortunately not really available...my window faces a brick wall, and my neighbors' lights reflect off of it. Seattle's solar schedule is very extreme at various times of the year, so I rely on curtains and artificial lighting, or I would go crazy and never get any sleep in the summer or have any light in the winter. And while sound is thankfully not much of an issue, my neighbors come and go at odd hours and are turning lights on and off all the time, so I make due with what I can control on my own, and hopefully can harness train the birds soon to get them some fresh air when weather permits.

[Wolf]

Even without harness training your birds, you can take them outside in a travel cage, or other small cage to get fresh air and sunshine. Even 20 minutes at a time would help them a lot.

[nerdybird]

That is true. I am acclimating Zelda to the travel cage so I can do that with her. I actually took Falcor outside in my sweatshirt the other day and he seemed to like it. Being in the city though, It's actually hard to get sunlight this time of year, at least during the times I'm at home. And the way my apartment builidng is, there are other tall buildings around blocking most of the light :/ But maybe if the weather is nice over the weekend I can take him out in the travel cage and walk uphill a couple blocks to get some clear sunlight. I live close to downtown but in a fairly quiet couple of blocks, which is great because there aren't a lot of cars going by.

[Wolf]

One of the best things about sunlight is that even indirect sunshine is effective as when in the shade. Most of the time I try to provide partial shade for my birds when they are outside. I also live where it gets cold, much colder than my birds would survive so I also use full spectrum lighting for them until the weather warms up enough for me to take them outside. If you decide to use full spectrum lighting to help with your birds, please make certain that it has a CRI of 94+ with a K Temp of 5000 to 5500. These are the ones that are made specifically for birds and not for reptiles or other animals. It is very important or they could injure your bird very quickly.