Photic Niche Explains Avian Behavioral Responses to Solar Eclipses.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Animal Behavior
• Bioacoustics

Background:

• Solar eclipses cause rapid environmental changes, serving as natural experiments.
• Animal responses to ephemeral environmental shifts are crucial for ecological understanding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how bird vocalizations change in response to solar eclipses.
• To differentiate responses between total and annular eclipses and varying obscuration levels.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a large acoustic dataset from participatory science (181 species, 873 locations).
• Quantified changes in bird vocalizations during the 2023 annular and 2024 total solar eclipses in North America.

Main Results:

• During total eclipses (>94% obscuration), most species vocalized less, while nocturnal/large-eyed species vocalized more.
• Moderate obscuration (70%-93%) led to increased vocalization in most bird species.
• Annular eclipses during the nonbreeding season showed no significant change in bird vocal behavior.

Conclusions:

• Solar eclipses, particularly total ones, induce significant, albeit temporary, shifts in bird vocal behavior.
• The degree of solar obscuration and time of year influence species-specific responses.
• Ecological soundscapes are dynamically altered by changing photic conditions during eclipses.