What happened in this Energy story?

Corvo’s autumn switch-off creates a star-lit route for fledgling Cory’s shearwaters, concentrating the island’s conservation response on the exact period when young birds make their first flight from land toward the ocean.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Corvo** turns off its public lighting every autumn, and for a few key days the island goes dark.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Cory’s shearwaters** are guided by the stars as they attempt their first flight from land to the ocean, which is the outcome Corvo’s shutdown is meant to support.

Corvo Goes Dark Each Autumn for Young Shearwaters — SkimNews

By The Guardian Environment · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-25

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Corvo turns off its public lighting every autumn, and for a few key days the island goes dark.
Cory’s shearwaters are guided by the stars as they attempt their first flight from land to the ocean, which is the outcome Corvo’s shutdown is meant to support.
Corvo is the smallest and most northerly island in Portugal’s Azores archipelago.
Corvo has observed the annual public-lighting switch-off since 2019.

Why it matters: Young Cory’s shearwaters gain a darker, star-lit path to the ocean during the few autumn nights when Corvo switches off public lighting. The practice, documented since 2019, targets the recurring fledging period, when successful orientation matters for birds leaving land for the first time.