How Animals React to Eclipse of Sun

8-14-17 -- During an eclipse seen in Portugal on August 21, 1560, astronomer Christoph Clavius wrote that during totality, “stars appeared in the sky and (marvellous to behold) the birds fell down from the sky to the ground in terror of such horrid darkness.”  Eclipse-chaser and author Dave Balch was in Kona, Hawaii, for the 1991 total eclipse and noticed excited activity among the birds along the pier during the partial phases before and after totality: “We could hardly hear each other talk! Then came totality – not a sound. It was deathly quiet. National Geographic here

Bees Stopped Buzzing During Eclipse 10-10-18, Smithsonian -- Researchers report that bees responded to this midday blackout of solar eclipse by falling silent. The results, obtained by analyzing recordings of tiny microphones suspended among flowers. The buzzing of the bees through all stages of the eclipse was heard. The bees were active and noisy right up to the last moments before totality, the part of a total solar eclipse when the moon blocks all direct sunlight and a night-like darkness settles over the land. As totality hit, the bees - in unison - went totally silent. “It was like someone turned out the lights and bees stopped flying. It was abrupt, it wasn’t gradual. It was like falling off a cliff, that abrupt.” 
​For a bee to call it quits in the middle of the day is pretty unusual, unless something like a storm passes through. As Galen puts it, “bumblebees and honeybees have to make hay while the sun shines.” More here at Smithsonian