New Zealand village turns off street lights to stop birds crash-landing on to roads

Westland petrel fledglings have been hitting the roads, possibly mistaking the lights for bioluminescent fish they feed on

In an attempt to save a rare bird species, a New Zealand village is trialling an innovative strategy: it is switching off all its street lights to stop baby birds becoming confused and crash landing on to the road.

Westland petrels, which are blackish-brown with ivory beaks, breed only along an 8km stretch of coastal forest in the foothills near Punakaiki, a South Island town of fewer than 100 people and popular with tourists for its pancake rock formations and gushing ocean blowholes.