Something Eerie Happens to The Bees During a Total Solar Eclipse

I was fortunate enough to get a great view of the most recent total (92%) solar eclipse here in Seattle (August 2017). It was my first time ever experiencing this natural phenomenon, and I wasn't disappointed. The view of the eclipse was spectacular through the viewing glasses a neighbor loaned me, I was astounded by the weird shadows being cast, and also detected an eerie silence. Humans aren't the only ones that notice an eclipse, scientists have noted other lifeforms changing their behaviors during these events. But, until recently, not much was known about how bees react:

SCIENCE ALERT SOURCE ARTICLE

During the spectacular event of a total solar eclipse, humans emerge blinking from their dens to enjoy the awe-inspiring show. But what of the bees? According to new research, they stop flying and go completely silent.

Over the years, scientists have jumped at every opportunity to study animal behaviour during solar eclipses. We know that birds and diurnal reef fish bed down (while nocturnal fish start to emerge), orb-weaving spiders take down their webs, chimps gather to take a look, and cows carry on grazing like normal. But not much has been done to observe how bees behave. So researchers from the University of Missouri decided to take advantage of citizen science and the 21 August 2017 total solar eclipse that swept across America.

Over 400 scientists, citizen scientists, and school students set up 16 acoustic monitoring stations in the path of totality, in Oregon, Idaho, and Missouri, to listen for and record any bee buzzing. The system, which had been recently field-tested by University of Missouri biologist Candace Galen to record pollination activity through listening for bee sounds, consisted of small USB microphones. These were hung in areas away from human foot traffic, with high levels of bee pollination activity, along with light and temperature sensors in some of the locations.

"We anticipated, based on the smattering of reports in the literature, that bee activity would drop as light dimmed during the eclipse and would reach a minimum at totality," Galen said. "But we had not expected that the change would be so abrupt, that bees would continue flying up until totality and only then stop, completely. It was like 'lights out' at summer camp! That surprised us." Across all 16 locations, just one single, lonely bee buzz was recorded during the eclipse's totality.

a reply to: seattlerat


What is eerie about that?

originally posted by: norhoc
a reply to: seattlerat


What is eerie about that?

Wildlife, including insects, tend to behave in somewhat predictable fashions. I suspect that the author who penned the title is suggesting that because the bees' behaviors change in such a dramatic fashion during an eclipse, that it is extremely unusual and might be considered "eerie" or mysterious to someone observing them who was unable to correlate the changes with a (somewhat) rare natural phenomenon. I suspect that the same might be said of animal behavior changes prior to and during earthquakes.

a reply to: seattlerat

We are in north Idaho and even though we didn’t get total darkness it was dark enough to observe the effect on wildlife in the area.

The birds did the little frenzy as they do right before dusk but never settled down. The poor rooster down the road did his little crow twice that day.

originally posted by: norhoc
a reply to: seattlerat


What is eerie about that?

I bet it’s eerie for the bees.

I’ve always found animals reaction to catastrophic natural events amazing. A lot of their strange behavior happens before anything hits. We could learn a lot from them. hopefully with enough data scientist will be able to see a connection that could help in prediction models and prevent deaths .

As a beekeeper in SC I find this fascinating! S&F.
During the Solar eclipse we had, I was at work so I did not get to see how my chickens, goats and honeybees reacted. I wish I could have gotten video!

Thanks for posting!
Quad

a reply to: seattlerat

I was supposed to participate in a small citizen type experiment/data collection group and was so awe struck at the eclipse that I failed to document properly. I sent what little information that I collected and was embarrassed to do so but, I had promised.

I am still moved when I think back to the experience or look at our photos. I can't wait for the next one and more research that dedicated "real" scientists can provide.

I will happily remain a spectator!

Cool. There's likely more to study concerning eclipses than shadows, and the answers might change physics as we know (or do not know) it.

Focault's pendulum reaction, documented only sometimes, shows unexplained variance in the swings during an eclipse, though only in certain geographic areas ...or again, it seems tied to geography and might really be tied to something else, like the people observing... we just dunno, yet, and the chances to experiment are rare.

But diurnal animals going dormant during unexpected night conditions seems more explainable

One brave bee flying around shouting "Sheep! I told you, it's fine!"

*chuckle*

Very cool thanks for sharing

-Alee

a reply to: seattlerat

Something eerie happened to the bees near me.

I swatted them in futility, then filled a bottle with dish washing liquid and sprayed their nest, and whacked them with a badminton racquet when got angry and went berserk.

Nesting my my damn roof.

Big lumbering ugly bastards, trying to kill me. And I don't even like honey.

Oh I meant oozy, not eerie.. those things are just full of goo.

I had a dog that pissed himself when thunder clapped.
Otherwise fearless.

a reply to: seattlerat
Interesting post
...sorry though, I've seen 98% and total eclipses, if you haven't seen total then you have no idea of the difference, it is dramatic.
Watching the shadow rush across the land towards you then darkness like night...anything less than 100% is 'meh' to me.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Eclipse gatekeeping, that's a new low.

a reply to: Thorsen
Lol, 100% eclipse is amazing compared to 97%, that really is 'meh' in comparison.