The Department of Land and Natural Resources reminds Kauai homeowners and businesses to shut off any unneeded lights to protect young seabirds during the fledgling season.

The fledglings become disoriented by artificial lights, mistaking them for moonlight, which they use to navigate out to sea from their nests on mountains and cliffs.

Kauai residents and businesses are asked to keep an eye out for any fallen fledglings — threatened Newell’s shearwaters, endangered Hawaiian petrels as well as wedge-tailed shearwaters. The Garden Isle is home to about 80 percent of the world’s remaining population of Newell’s shearwaters.

The fledgling season typically is September through December. Disoriented seabirds fall onto roadways, parking lots and lawns after colliding into utility poles, wires and buildings. Grounded, injured birds are vulnerable to attacks by cats and dogs.

The state urges homeowners and businesses to:

» Turn down lights and use downward lighting for signs.

» Turn off decorative lights.

» Use shielded outdoor lights and lower wattage lamps.

» Close curtains to reduce glare.

» Use motion detectors to turn on floodlights and security lights.

» Keep cats and dogs indoors.

Anyone who finds an injured seabird is asked to pick up the bird with a T-shirt or towel and place it in a well-ventilated cardboard box in a cool spot. Do not feed or attempt to release the birds.

Injured seabirds should be taken to the nearest fire station, to the Save Our Shearwaters Program at the Kauai Humane Society or to the Division of Forestry and Wildlife Service’s Kauai Branch. The humane society can be contacted at 632-0610 or 635-5117 and the Forestry and Wildlife Service’s Kauai Branch at 274-3433.

For more information on protecting seabirds, call the Kauai Seabird Habitat Conservation Program at 245-9160 or go to www.kauai-seabirdhcp.info.