Were birds in the Pittsburgh area impacted by the solar eclipse?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The solar eclipse ruffled the feathers of some birds special to the Steel City, while other birds in the area weren't fazed by the rare event in the sky.
Unlike humans, wild animals did not get prepared for Monday's solar eclipse.
As the eclipse was reaching its maximum peak over the Pittsburgh area at 3:17 p.m., many people watched live PixCams of the majestic bald eagles, Irvin and Claire, at the U.S. Steel eagle nest in West Mifflin.
"We have a little eaglet in the nest, so I was really concerned. I wanted to get my eclipse glasses for them, but I couldn't climb the tree," said Don German, plant manager at U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works Irvin plant.
German said Irvin was in the same spot for hours, perched up high above in a tree behind the nest.
"He stayed there pretty much since noon. And he was just look around, just observing and checking out the area. Did a couple wing stretches, did a couple leg stretches. A lot of people were saying on chat like he just seems like he's a little nervous up there," German said.
Claire wasn't fazed by the change in the afternoon sky. She had more important things to worry about, including keeping their day-old eaglet, USS 7, warm. She was also incubating one egg that's expected to hatch soon.
"She didn't miss a beat. I think she just maybe thought it was cloudy out. It did get a little dark there at the nest, but she was just acting normal," German said
At the National Aviary, ornithologist Robert Mulvihill said he wasn't surprised that some of the aviary's birds started displaying their end-of-day behaviors around the time of the eclipse.
Some birds like the blue-billed curassow, which spends all day on the ground feeding on fallen fruits and seeds, flew up to their tree perches to roost.
"They want to get to those roost places before it gets dark. They want to maximize the amount of time that they can be feeding, but they certainly don't want to get caught on the ground when the nighttime predators start becoming active," Mulvihill said.
Even the aviary's spotted whistling ducks and marbled teals got off the water to rest.
Mulvihill said some birds probably got quiet during the eclipse or sang their evening songs. He was at his home during the event and heard his neighborhood robins doing that.
Stormy Oaks Nature Conservancy, home of Wildbird Recovery, in Middlesex Township told KDKA-TV, "There was a definite shift in behavior for the wild birds. We watched activity decrease for the diurnal birds along with vocalization. After a few minutes, activity and vocalization resumed back to normal for the time of day."
"For birds, they're very sensitive to any change in light. Light is a really important environmental cue for birds. A lot of things are tied to it. They were probably sensing more things than we were. Birds may have slowly changed their behavior, but then they were right back again. So, it wasn't really an upsetting thing, nothing was thrown out of balance by it," Mulvihill said.
When the afternoon sun was fully visible again, Irvin finally flew off his perch that he was on for hours.
"It was funny once the eclipse was over, he seemed like he was back to his normal self," German said.