Sun 27 Aug 2017
For last Monday’s total solar eclipse watch, I really wanted to watch for animal behavioral changes during the eclipse. After many plans, alternate plans, modified plans, and final plans, my wife joined me at the intersection of I’on Swamp Road and Willow Hall Road, both gravel Forest Service roads in the Francis Marion National Forest and home to a known Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCWO) colony. RCWOs take years to excavate a cavity in a living tree (living wood is much harder than dead wood favored by all other woodpeckers) and live as an extended family unit and permanent residents in several nearby cavities. During daylight RCWOs will forage widely through the forest and are known to return to their family colony cavities just prior to sunset for roosting. It was this “return to roost” behavior that I had hoped to observe during the eclipse.
A scouting trip to this longleaf pine forest location on Friday 11 Aug 2017 in the couple of hours preceding sunset confirmed the presence of RCWOs at the intersection, but I did not observe a specific “return to roost” behavior associated with sunset on that day. Unfortunately during the eclipse watch I did not tally any RCWOs at all. Both the scouting trip and the eclipse watch were relatively quiet bird wise. There are many possible reasons why the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers didn’t return to roost at either sunset or eclipse. Sunset is a much more prolonged and gradual event than a total solar eclipse. As a matter of fact, I was very surprised by the marginal loss of light intensity during partial eclipse and the very rapid change of light intensity as totality began and ended. (Rather than light diminution during the partial eclipse I perceived instead a subtle change of light quality; just prior to totality colors seemed muted but perceived light intensity remained relatively high as measured with a handheld light meter.)
As eclipse totality began, sunlight intensity decreased so rapidly that I briefly wished for a flashlight with which to write notes on my clipboard. Once my eyes quickly accommodated during totality, I was able to enjoy seeing the eclipse through binoculars, a planet that became clearly visible high in the SSE sky, spots of solar flares, and the beads along the edge of the moon signaling the end of totality. But no Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. A negative result, but a result.
One modest animal behavior that we witnessed, however, related to the palamedes swallowtails that were at our forest location. Several palamedes swallowtails were standing on the gravel roadway in a tight formation; they were vibrating their wings, not really fluttering their wings so much as vibrating wings, bodies, and legs. During eclipse totality all the palamedes swallowtails left the roadway flying off into the woods. Sixteen minutes after totality ended, the first palamedes swallowtails returned and by 22 minutes after totality were once again standing in formation on the roadway. A second animal behavior was the multitude of frogs in the forest that began calling during totality, having been quiet during full daylight and partial eclipse, but calling ceased within 4 minutes after totality ended.
I caught the CEX ferry out to Bulls Island last Thursday 24 Aug 2017 for the ongoing waterfowl/shorebird survey. I hadn’t been on the ferry for some months, but Captain Wil Christenson and First Mate Nick Johnson graciously ferried me out at the last minute. We were able to share brief stories about Monday’s total solar eclipse experiences and wonder whether the Spartina alterniflora (salt marsh cordgrass) was producing seedheads early.
Water levels in the impoundments on Bulls remain high (full but not overflowing). Sea oats are growing great on the North Beach, the inlet from the oceanfront saltwater marsh (at Jack’s) has been closed off (silted in) leaving relatively high saltwater levels in that marsh, and the beaches continue to be resculpted by the winds and waves. Fall shorebird migration continues and some summer resident birds appear to have left.
There were four banded Piping Plovers (PIPL), plus two unbanded, on the North Beach including three that have been tallied on Bulls before. Of particular note was the PIPL banded as: Of,YG:X,O (Orange flag upper L, Yellow over Green lower L: metal upper R, Orange band lower R), also fondly known to her banders as Bahama Mama, so named because she spends her winters in the Bahamas. Interestingly this is the third consecutive migratory season when she has used Bulls Island as a migratory stopover spot. I hope that Bahama Mama will continue to use Bulls during migration; it is fascinating to understand how Bulls Island is so important as both wintering grounds and migratory stopover for Piping Plovers.
Of,YG:X,O, a.k.a., Bahama Mama
There was another white morph Reddish Egret (REEG), presumably the same seen during the last survey (see previous blog posting, below, for picture) and this time it had a red morph REEG friend hanging out in the same location. Misses on this survey included Least Bittern, White Ibis, Western Sandpiper, and Black-necked Stilt.
David
P.S. I was unable to conduct a survey in early Sept as everyone was in hurricane prep mode prior to hurricane Irma. I do have a report on Bulls to share from the Coastal Expeditions web site:
http://coastalexpeditions.com/bulls-island-post-irma/
