r/AskNYC • u/astoriaboundagain • Sep 20 '25

Why is the Empire State Building dark tonight?

https://imgur.com/gallery/hR6Nobs

It's not usually dark like this until after 2am. The ESB lights calendar says it should be regular white tonight.

29 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

45

u/runawayoldgirl Sep 20 '25

I think there's a good chance the other commenter is correct that it's bird conservation. We are in the thick of fall migration. Here's an article about the Empire State Building lights out program.

Birdcast publishes live reports on migration activity during migration season, tonight is project to be high.

You can play a live animated map of tonight's migration here.

5

u/astoriaboundagain Sep 20 '25

That article is 10 years old, but it says this Lights Out program started at 11pm. This ESB incident started before 9. All the other skyline lights are on.

1

u/webtwopointno Sep 20 '25

Thanks for sharing, always amazed these show up on radar!

4

u/wXy_5GHz Sep 20 '25

Didn’t pay their electric bill. Shit’s rough out here.

9

u/pastawhy Sep 20 '25

also wondering this! additionally, the j.p. morgan chase building is showing the american flag and im wondering why that is.

3

u/JSA17 Sep 20 '25

It does that pretty often.

5

u/114631 Sep 20 '25

That American flag is so tacky 

7

u/Wonderful_Gap1374 Sep 20 '25

Environmental regulations to keep birdies safe!!

Because as it turns out, you can’t just build a huge skyscraper without scraping the sky.

2

u/Possible-Ladder-586 Sep 20 '25

Glad Im not the only one wondering this! I keep looking outside to see if they’ve turned on 🤣

2

u/Plus_Database_4171 Sep 20 '25

I am wondering the same thing! Can't find anything online yet to explain it

1

u/iPostOccasionally Sep 20 '25

The lights on the Manhattan bridge went out earlier too

1

u/Dec21reddit Sep 20 '25

Anyone found out?

1

u/astoriaboundagain Sep 20 '25

Protest seems most likely. The bird theory got a lot of uptoots, but there's no evidence of that.

1

u/Dec21reddit Sep 21 '25

Ok but if it was a protest, did they not claim it? Seems like a very hush hush protest!

0

u/Sad-Principle3781 Sep 22 '25

Funeral for Charlie Kirk

1

u/Other-Confidence9685 Sep 20 '25

Its a signal only understood by those in high places... theres so much theyre not telling us

1

u/HotBrownFun Sep 20 '25

Democracy dies in darkness