MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 26, 2024
Between the solar eclipse in April and aurora in May, this has been an exciting spring for getting people outdoors and looking up to the skies. There was a lot of hype leading up to the eclipse and a lot of excitement about the aurora, so let’s dig in to both and talk about the effects of these, if any, on wildlife. The eclipse itself was obviously incredible, but the timing may have lessened some of the reactions we were expecting to see from Maine’s wildlife. The magnetic storm that produced the vibrant colors of the aurora was reported as the strongest to hit Earth since October 2003. Earth being bombarded during a magnetic storm would have some effect on our birds. A paper published last fall reported that during space weather events there is a “9 to 17 percent reduction in migration.” ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox