Overview
- Of 52 species analyzed, 29 changed their vocal activity before, during or after the April 8, 2024 totality, with the strongest shifts just after sunlight returned in a false dawn chorus.
- American robins increased vocalizations by roughly five- to sixfold and Barred Owls called about four times more than usual, while some species such as Carolina wrens showed little or no change.
- About 1,700 participants submitted more than 11,000 observations through the SolarBird app along the eclipse path from Mexico to Canada.
- Autonomous recorders around southern Indiana captured roughly 100,000 vocalizations that were identified with BirdNET to quantify species-level responses.
- Findings highlight that sensitivity to abrupt light changes varies by species and could guide strategies to reduce ecological impacts from artificial light at night.