Updated: 12/4/2002; 7:55:31 AM

Cracker Commentary   Ruminations of a rare and endangered critter, the Florida Native Eclipse Jay Manifold writes about the solar eclipse that you can see today, if you are in Australia or Southern Africa.  I saw one once in Southern Georgia. A swamp is a great place to watch.  The still, black water makes a perfect mirror and protects the eyes better than glass.  In 1970, an eclipse crossed the Southeastern U.S., drawing a line of totality right up the Suwanee River into the Okefenokee, where Dad and I were waiting for it at Stephen Foster State Park.  With us were about fifty other Astronomers for a Day and a camera crew from the Today Show who had never seen an alligator before. About the time the moon began to nibble at the edge of the sun's disk, the TV people realized they were being eyed by an eight foot gator and turned their cameras on it.  Apparently, the network thought this was pretty neat, because they kept following it, ignoring the show that was starting.  At one point, we thought one of them was going to try petting the gator, which would have probably done a lot for their ratings. There was an overcast that was thin enough to see the sun through but provided enough of a filter that some were looking directly at it with only a slight squint.  It didn't seem a very good idea to me and I found the reflection, framed by some impressive cypress trees, was a pretty dramatic view. As more of the sun became hidden, the quality of the sunlight changed, getting softer rather than darker.  When it was down to a sliver, we could see the shadow approaching on the underside of the clouds, and when it reached us everything changed.  The light just went out and the noises were different.  The birds' chatter was suddenly replaced by a frog serenade, which impressed me as much as anything I was seeing.  And what I was seeing was spectacular.  We were in the dark, but wherever we could see through the trees, the clouds near the horizon were now glowing, lit by the sun in a ring that completely surrounded us.  Like the shadow a few minutes before, the glow moved toward us until a bit of sun reappeared and day was back, sounds and all. Heading back to our car, we saw the Today folks still chasing the alligator, and they had found a snake.  I wondered if they even noticed the eclipse.

Copyright 2002 © Doug Murray.