The Nocturne of the Lightless Night.

Remember this: Cut the lights out. You'll see more.

Tonight I walked outside of the house to retrieve my rifle from the truck. I looked up at the stars but there was this nagging light coming from my peripheral vision. It would seem that the night sky is no longer a little brighter in the country because the city has come a-calling. At night there are seven security lights that stay on all night long at the abutting park. They never go off and come on just as the sun is rising or setting. I look down the road and all the neighbors have security lights. I wonder if they are afraid of burglars? The most I have is some soft solar runway lights that come on well after dark. I love looking up at the stars and the milky way. I can't imagine not having a world with that in it. Nor do I wish to have to buy a ticket one day on one of Branson's space ships so I can take a gander either. It just wouldn't be the same.

• Is it really necessary to have that much light polluting up the night?
• Are people that afraid?
• Can you kill the stars visually?
• What implications does it incur on wildlife and their habits?
• Do you really need lights all over your yard to showcase your house?
• Do you really need that security light on in an empty lot where no house stands?

No matter what the light souce, it can affect wildlife in very inappropriate ways.

Humans have forced, coerced, and chosen to become diunal mammals. Diurnal mammals cycle in a pattern that occurs every 24 hours as a result of one full rotation of the Earth.  People are  biased to the daylight and depend on visual cues because of this distortion to our nature. Jobs at varying times of the day, partying to much at night, and other vices perpetuate this bad habit and will brings about poor mental and physical health. Eventually you see this habit play out as the night becomes an artificial day. These ever growing habits affect the very animals that we love to hunt and the beautiful symphony of the worlds of day and night. What is a nocturne you ask?

A nocturne is a muscial composition that is inspired by the evocation of night. As hunter we know that when night falls on certain game animals, we must abruptly stop hunting them until the next day. On the other hand there are game animals that are hunted solely at night for that is their habitation. This musical composition of hunting weaves itself all through our endeavors and hits its high notes when we finally make contact with our stalk. From the moment the Sun rises and trades places with the Moon, a musical composition of sorts is playing itself out. While we sit in our offices and make our daily bread somewhere out in the world a buck, bear, or duck is making the daily rounds in its life. Plants are filtering light to photosynthesis while decomposers are recycling the world and the energy that is never lost. Everything comes back as something even if it seems like nothing.
In order for animals or people to function there must be so many hours of light and dark. The more we change the natural landscape where light and dark is master, the more we influence the wildlife and ourselves.
Have you ever made a trip to the doctor only to find the treatment is to 'change your lifestyle'?
Your physical functioning, behaviour, reproduction, and immune system depends of the night and day cycle. Even thought humans do not need the night for survival there are wildlife that do. Take the sea turtle for example. It depends on the night for survival otherwise its off-spring would get confused and go into circles instead of the sea. This is a form of disorientation that can also be noted in migratory waterfowl. Humans change the outside world to accomodate our needs even if what we think is a need is more of a want or luxury. The ramifications of that change is sometimes subtle or very evident. What we consider our advancements would be considered a devastation in the natural world.  A season's photo period is the only consistent factor in the natural environment.

Areas that are affected by artificial light are:

• Reproduction i.e. mating out of season
• Communication between specie members
• Disorientation that leads to altering survival paths
• Fixation
• Degradation of habitat
• Energy Waste
• Premature blooming or ceasing to bloom
• Population declines
• Starvation i.e. interfering with prey/predator relationships
• Forming unnecessary feed concentrations around artificial light
• Artificial light can deter normal wildlife and remove them from normal areas
• Low light nocturnal animals can be compromised by illumination can alter survival strategies
• Inhibit normal Anti-predation behavior
• Variances in hunting quality

Animals usually have set times when they browse, drink water, feed, and sleep. When the sun is receded into the West and depending on the Moon, if light is available they are more likely to move about. You can pen this down like a teenager that stays up all night having a party but sleeping most of the day. At some point the wildlife wake up and have to drink or feed.
Wildlife chases the moon much like a sailor at sea.Their paths are determined to a point by the reflection of the moon and starlight. Daylight varies through out the year and so does moon light. The phases of the moon dictate a slow building up and occluding of its beams into the eyes of the wild. It is never abrupt. Even the sun creeps across the sky as the forest's trees shade the hotter parts of the day.

I once saw an example of light fixation in a Merlin falcon. I was walking around at night when I heard this knocking noise in the side of a Roanoke tobacco barn. I remember the full moon was shining up in the sky making everything very visible. After getting some leather gloves, I went over to investigate because it sounded like a bird was in trouble. There I found a Merlin trying to fly up into the side of the barn wall. The barn wall itself was a silver color which fooled the Merlin into thinking it was an open space to fly. Here in reflective surfaces where light played off confused the Merlin. I caught the bird then turned him free after a meal of raw venison the next morning after making sure it wasn't harmed.

Things that you can do to minimize artificial light:

• Buy a gun or start a community watch if you're afraid someone is doing criminal activity.
• Stop being so proud of your home and turn out the lights.
• Purchase sensory lights that come on and go off with a timer.
• Turn off unnecessary lights. You'll probably save money and sleep better.
• Get fully shielded fixtures
• Try using red or yellow lights. Wildlife chase the moon so red light doesn't reflect like the moon or draw curiosity. Yellow light doesn't attract as much insects.
• Educate yourself and others. Raise awareness not controversy or discord. Remember you are doing this for wildlife, yourself, and hunting in general.

As hunting sportsmen, we must make allowances for our quarry. This change in light can alter the natural patterns to make the stalk too simple or confusing. We must be ambassadors to everyone when it comes to educating people on the 'minor details' that can affect the sport. There are many controversies in hunting but the simpler ones you should be able to have an effect on.
Turn out the lights.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of AOFH~