A local seabird biologist is urging residents and businesses along the northeast coast to turn off their lights as storm petrels leave their dens and head out to the open water.

Bill Montevecchi says the tiny brown seabirds become confused by the light and are attracted to the coast when they become stranded on land.

Montevecchi estimates that thousands of birds have come ashore from Musgrave Harbour to Witless Bay. The problem has been especially apparent in Bay de Verde where hundreds of birds have flown in from nearby Baccalieu Island.

He says the birds are vulnerable to predators when they become stranded on land. Everything from gulls to cats and mink prey on the birds, using the artificial light to find them.

He jokes he feels like an air traffic controller, and he commends the work of Environment Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service and dozens of volunteers and concerned citizens who have been working nearly around the clock to rescue and release stranded storm petrels.

He’s asking anyone who finds a storm petrel to keep the bird in a box in a quiet, dark location for release over the water after dark.