Solar Eclipse Journal

After reading the article Audubon posted on how wildlife reacts to such an event, I was eager to see it for myself in Burlington. Although we know when the eclipse will happen the birds have no idea which is why they would treat the dimming hour as dusk which was observed during the last solar eclipse.

During the eclipse, I went down to the waterfront to get a better view of bird behavior as the eclipse reached totality. I didn’t start noticing any behavior in the birds until the moon was overlapping with the sun about 70%. I noticed many ring-billed gulls and Canada geese flying away from the shore which could have been them looking for a place to rest. After the sunlight returned on my way back up I noticed the songbirds back in their trees and continuing their song. After learning about the photoperiod and how it influences a bird's cycle, I was curious to see if this event would influence their cycle due to the changing environmental cues. However, due to the quick return of the light, I think most of the wildlife just went back to what they would do in the daylight. I assume that the photoperiod would still align with the majority of their photosensitive period which would still create a response even with 40 minutes of dimmed light. The biggest change I noticed was the sound of the birds as once the sun returned they were beginning their calls like it was the early morning. Due to the darkness created during totality, this could have caused the birds to feel as though it was night which would cause them to begin their morning calls once the sun returned.

I also think an important factor to acknowledge about their changed behavior is the human disturbance aspect that came with this event. I would think that having thousands of more people in the area could throw off a bird's routine which would enable them to find a different area to forage in. As soon as the eclipse reached totality everyone started screaming which could have contributed to the sea birds' erratic behavior where they were trying to gain distance from the people.

Posted on May 8, 2024 10:43 PM by jloyst