NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1008599
"It had its eyes closed tightly, and was hanging on in a stretched out, vertical position," the observer wrote. It is unusual to see bats during the day. It is assumed that the bat began foraging when it perceived dusk, but when the sun rapidly returned, the bat was forced to quickly find a place to roost. Usually, they would roost in a tree or crevice out of sight and hang upside down in a compact position. Green spent a month reading through all 2,000- some observations on the iNaturalist project, making her own notes and finding connections. Much of what was observed was already expected behavior, she said: nocturnal animals awakening, temperatures dropping, flowers closing up, farm animals returning to bedding areas, and domestic animals showing signs of stress. However, Green said, observers also discovered new information and unexpected behaviors and trends. Among them were: • Some animals, such as prairie dogs, retreated to their homes during the eclipse and refused to emerge for some time afterward, a behavior Green termed "skepticism." "Skepticism in animals, from what I had read, was not something we had really paid attention to," she said; previously, the focus was always on animal behavior during the eclipse, and not afterward. • Some owners reported that domestic animals, such as dogs, started nightly feeding behaviors, bringing their bowls to their owners – something that hadn't been noted previously. • Owners often commented that their animals behaved the way they did before a storm – for example, cows going back to the barn. As is natural for a citizen science project, the conditions for data collecting weren't perfectly controlled, and most of the observers weren't trained scientists and lacked thorough knowledge of the species they were observing. Not to mention, they were likely running on the adrenaline of seeing the eclipse, and that could have affected data too, Green said. Nevertheless, thanks to the iNaturalist project, we now have confirmations of what were previously just generalizations, Green said, complete with audio, video, and photographic proof. "A lot of it was confirming or rejecting things we already knew, but didn't have the ability to prove," she said. It couldn't have happened without citizen science, Green said. There was no way for scientists to be present at every point along the 13-state stretch of totality. But they didn't need to be. As it turns out, you don't have to be a scientist to produce data that matters – just someone willing to observe. ■ A loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) basks in soft light in the waning moments of the 2017 total solar eclipse at Bighorn Wildlife Management Area in Dawes County. Photo by Justin Haag. AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2018 • NEBRASKAland 19