More on Auroras and Birds

Commenting on the question of whether migrating birds are affected by the magnetic disturbances accompanying auroras, geologist Florence Weber cites an incident that suggests that birds are at least aware of auroras.

Last fall she and others were boating down the Yukon and had camped near the mouth of Stewart River. That evening, at sunset, several thousand sandhill cranes paused in their southward migration to land on nearby sandbars. Later in the night an intense aurora appeared overhead. When it abruptly ceased, the cranes set up an intense gabbling noise and then quieted down.

Still later, a bright meteor flashed across the sky and the cranes again gabbled loudly. Sunrise again set off the chattering.

Florence Weber described the incident to ornithologist Brina Kessel, who, as it turned out, that same night was waiting at Big Delta hoping to observe the sandhill crane migration along the normal route. But the cranes never appeared there. Whether the cranes departed from their normal migration route because of auroral disturbance is, of course, unknown. Another possibility, suggested by Dr. Kessel, is that strong winds from the west carried the birds far to the east of their normal path.