{"id":271938,"date":"2026-08-25T13:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271938\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T13:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:36:21","slug":"when-a-solar-eclipse-cast-darkness-over-lake-erie-this-happened-to-the-birds-that-live-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271938\/","title":{"rendered":"When a solar\u00a0eclipse\u00a0cast darkness over Lake Erie, this happened to the birds that live there"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 8 April 2024, bird researcher\u00a0Ryan A.C. Leys\u00a0made his way to Long Point, a\u00a040km-long\u00a0sand spit on the north shore of Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n

Leys, a PhD candidate in biology at the University of Waterloo, had planned his visit to coincide with a total solar eclipse<\/a> \u2013 a celestial event where the moon moves between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow over the planet.<\/p>\n

The occasion offered Leys a rare opportunity to observe how bird behaviour changes as the world around them suddenly falls into shadow. The findings are published in the journal\u00a0Northeastern Naturalist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of the roughly\u00a050 bird species observed during the study,\u00a0Leys\u00a0was able to note the behaviours of 10 species in real time with binoculars during the eclipse. The event started at 14:02 and ended at 16:30, with totality (when the Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned) beginning at 15:16:19 and lasting for 3 minutes and 32 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost diurnal [active during daytime]\u00a0birds ceased singing, and many birds exhibited behaviour typical of the dusk period for their species despite the fact that sunset did not occur until nearly 5 hours later,\u201d says Leys. Behaviour included flocking and roosting prior to and during totality. Post-totality, the birds\u2019 normal daytime behaviours resumed.<\/p>\n

\"LongAerial view of Long Point, a 40km-long sand spit on the north shore of Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada. Credit: SkyF\/Getty Images
\n\"FullThis image shows the full solar eclipse on 8 April 2024 over Lake Erie. Credit: Ben Casto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Leys reports behaviour such as red-winged blackbirds gathering in small flocks and flying west towards a known roosting location two minutes prior to totality. Two diurnal raptor species \u2013 the turkey vulture and\u00a0the merlin \u2013 landed in trees, roosted during totality, and flew again after totality ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A group of various bird species \u2013 including 30 Bonaparte’s gulls, two American herring gulls, two\u00a0ring-billed gulls, two Forster’s terns and one Caspian tern \u2013 \u201cdeparted their day roosting location in a large pond, flew out towards deeper water in the inner bay of Lake Erie and did not return until\u00a0\u223c10 min after totality ended,\u201d adds Leys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, a group of 19\u00a0green-winged teal stopped foraging, roosted on shore throughout totality, and then continued feeding post-totality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Red-wingedA flock of red-winged blackbirds were seen flying west towards a known roosting location two minutes prior to totality. Credit: williamhc\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Leys\u2019 observations add to the growing body of research showing that, though short in duration, \u201ctotal solar eclipses have a substantial influence on the behaviour of many bird species and provide evidence that light is an integral cue for moderating circadian rhythms in birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find out more about the study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 8 April 2024, bird researcher\u00a0Ryan A.C. Leys\u00a0made his way to Long Point, a\u00a040km-long\u00a0sand spit on the north…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-271938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}