Date: 4/15/24 4:53 pm From: Carol Joan Patterson <0000003a0ccbe138-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: Eclipse Birding observations
I have enjoyed all the bird behavior observations about the Eclipse. We were at Sharp Chapel, which was not dark very long, and I appreciate hearing from those of you who had a long totality. I think it is also interesting comparing the behavior of the birds with long vs. short dark times.
On Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 10:01:44 PM CDT, Karen Holliday <ladyhawke1...> wrote:
We had a big group of family and friends who came in from all over the U.S to experience totality. They insisted they had to be in the longest totality, one of which was at Mt. View, for 4 minutes and 14 seconds, almost the longest in Arkansas. So, I rented a couple of houses for several days outside Mt. View on the White River for our group.
Having done totality in Missouri in 2017, I knew what to expect. But totality was a little longer this time. It was definitely cooler a little longer and dusk a little longer. The tempeture drop was more noticeable this time. The birds did go from normal daytime chatter to quiet during both eclipses. But, this time we had a small group of Vultures come flying low over us, obviously heading to their roost, just before it got to totality. As soon as the sun came back out, the birds got noisy again, especially the big flock of Goldfinches in the nearby field, who went from loud chatter to completely quiet, then back to their loud chatter as soon as it got back to regular sunlight. Interesting how quickly they started back up again. So glad everyone got to experience this eclipse, since the next one in the U.S. isn't until 2044.Karen Holliday In rural Stone County for the eclipse
The last 3 days I ‘ve had the pleasure of being a volunteer for some neat bioacoustic eclipse research. Led by Douglas Barron and his undergrad student Colton Morris, from AR Tech University.
I had 3 interesting bird observations.
During the partial portion of the eclipse 2 White-throated Sparrows stopped feeding/calling/singing and flew up into a Cedar bush. They stayed on the “roost” until after totality then resumed their normal feeding behavior.
The end of totality “Dawn chorus” at 1:54pm was just as good as our normal dawn chorus.
About 4 min into totality a Barred Owl started calling.
Holla Bend NWR hosted about 800 eclipse visitors, many of whom were birders/ nature lovers from all over the country, Canada and even a birding family from the Czech Republic.
, Leif
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