Episode 30 Season 7: How A Solar Eclipse Changed Bird Behaviour And What Kids Get Wrong About Dogs The Science Pawdcast podcast

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Episode 30 Season 7: How A Solar Eclipse Changed Bird Behaviour And What Kids Get Wrong About Dogs

7d ago 29:32

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The sky went dark at midday, the temperature dipped, and a continent held its breath. We chased the total solar eclipse to Texas and came back with more than a memory—fresh science on how birds react when day vanishes and returns a few minutes later. Leveraging a blend of community observations, autonomous recorders, and BirdNET machine learning, researchers tracked behavior from Mexico to Canada and found a clear pattern: movement slowed during totality while vocalizations spiked, followed by a pseudo-dawn burst when the light returned. Some species, like American Robins and Barred Owls, showed dramatic shifts; others didn’t budge, pointing to species-specific sensitivity to light.
That sudden flip from light to dark is more than a spectacle—it’s a powerful biological cue. We connect the dots to artificial light at night, from migration disruptions to window strikes, and explore how city lighting policies and dark-sky practices can protect wildlife without sacrificing safety. When the whole sky changes at once, you see how deeply behavior is tuned to brightness. It’s a rare, elegant experiment you can’t reproduce in a lab, and it gives us practical guidance for urban design and conservation.
Back on the home front, we turn to a concern every family with pets and kids faces: children often misread dog body language. New data show that four- to seven-year-olds frequently mistake angry dog faces for happy ones, with high error rates even at seven. Most bites happen at home, during child-initiated contact, and without supervision. We share simple, actionable steps—teach a few key cues, keep greetings calm, supervise play, and give dogs guaranteed safe spaces—to preserve the empathy and comfort dogs bring while lowering risk.
If you love science, animals, and practical insights that make life better, this one’s for you.

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Chapters

1. Hello And Strike-Life Update (00:00:00)

2. Trip To Texas For The Eclipse (00:03:20)

3. How The Study Collected Bird Data (00:05:40)

4. What Birds Did In Totality (00:08:05)

5. Light Cues And Ecological Implications (00:11:10)

6. Pivot To Pet Science And Safety (00:13:40)

7. Why Kids Misread Dog Signals (00:16:10)

8. Practical Safety Tips For Families (00:19:00)

9. Closing And Patreon Shoutouts (00:22:10)

489 episodes

#Animals and Pets #Jason Zackowski with Bunsen Berner #Science #Kids And Families #Podcasting Education #Dogs