The shadows' detailed structure is due to random patterns of fine air turbulence that refract the collimated sunlight arriving from the narrow eclipse crescent.
The bands' rapid sliding motion is due to shifting air currents combined with the angular motion of the Sun projecting through higher altitudes. The degree of collimation in the light gradually increases as the crescent thins, until the solar disk is completely covered and the eclipse is total.
Stars twinkle for the same reason. They are so far from Earth that they appear as point sources of light easily disturbed by Earth's atmospheric turbulence which acts like lenses and prisms diverting the light's path. Viewed toward the collimated light of a star, the shadows bands from atmospheric refraction pass over the eye.
The best theory for the emergence of the shadow bands is published by Codona 1986 [2]. His theory meanwhile accepted by the most scientists. ... movement of the shadow bands is caused by winds in the different atmospheric levels.
The phenomenon of shadow bands – a success of light and dark striations – is somewhat random. German astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt was the first to remark upon this complex refraction phenomenon, in 1820.
Shadow Bands. In 1820 the German astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt was the first to notice wavy lines seen across the Earth's surface just before totality. These so-called shadow bands [...]