canberrabirds

Birds at the eclipse

To: Peter Shute <>
Subject: Birds at the eclipse
From: John Harris <>
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 09:50:54 +1100
Yes peter,
The total eclipse was in October 1976. As a young lad at the time, my
parents and I kept many birds in aviaries. Being about 4pm, the birds all
began to "pack up" for the day and start roosting. Once the eclipse was
over, the birds resumed normal activities.

Yours in all things "Green"

John Harris
Owner - Wildlife Experiences
0409090955
On Nov 14, 2012 9:42 AM, "Peter Shute" <> wrote:

> There was a total or near total eclipse in Melbourne some time in the
> 70s(?), in the afternoon, I think. I recall that it was like a dawn chorus
> when it got light again. Perhaps your observation that the birds "carried
> on as before" was because they were already doing their dawn chorus.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: 
> >  On Behalf Of
> > John Leonard
> > Sent: Wednesday, 14 November 2012 9:34 AM
> > To: ; 
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Birds at the eclipse
> >
> > We came up to cairns for the eclipse, we were staying in palm
> > cove but decided that there would be too much morning cloud
> > over the sea. So we drove inland to Mareeba and a little
> > further west and had perfect views of the eclipse from a stop
> > by the road on high ground facing east amidst mango orchards.
> > Around about were white-bellied cuckoo-shrikes, figbirds,
> > pied butcherbirds and magpie larks. In front of us was a
> > weedy field with cisticolas calling from it.
> > The eclipse was about an hour after sunrise, and so not as
> > dramatic as it would have been later; it only got appreciably
> > dark five minutes before totality, and totality itself was
> > quite short, only about 1 minute.
> > My attention was torn between the sun and the birds, I didn't
> > notice any unusual behaviour, all that happened was that for
> > about the ten minutes of darkness the birds fell silent and
> > didn't move about. After the eclipse they carried on as before.
> > If we'd been on the coast it would have been interesting to
> > see if the torresian imperial pigeons headed offshore when it
> > got dark!
> >
> > John Leonard
> > ===============================
> >
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