are the birds trying to tell us something? . . .

[OneBlueSky]

I had a really weird experience last night, and it seems to be continuing today . . .

I happened to be awake at around 3:30 a.m. and decided to take a spin over to the local 7-11 for some munchies . . . as I left the house, I noticed that there were birds singing -- lots of them -- at 3:30 in the morning! . . . not only had I never heard that before, but their chirps seemed to be more animated than usual . . . kind of like there was a sense of urgency or something . . .

finally got to sleep after 4:00, and when I got up at 10:00, there were even more birds singing, again in what seems to be a more urgent kind of way than usual . . . usually the songbirds start in at daybreak and sing for an hour or so, and then go about their daily business . . . but not today . . . today there's this constant chirping that just keeps on and on and on, with no letup . . .

anyone else experience anything like this? . . . I mean, I love songbirds, especially to wake up to . . . but this behavior is just strange, and completely new . . .

[RevCheesehead]

1. Al Birda?

Better notify homeland security, and chimpy's laundry.

[porphyrian]

10. Isn't that in Canada? - n/t

[RevCheesehead]

12. We could invade them, just to be sure...

so we don't have to fight them here.

[porphyrian]

14. Anything to stop illegal migration. - n/t

[Buzz Clik]

2. That wasn't singing, it was giggling.

I'm guessing that they, too, had the munchies as a result of breathing secondary smoke coming from your home.

[EV_Ares]

3. Well, I know that animals and birds all can sense things before we

can. So, wherever you are there could be some change in your weather coming.

I agree, they do have their own warning system.

I know that farm animals will tell you when a storm is coming up.

[H2O Man]

4. Tippi Hedron

had much the same experience.

[babylonsister]

5. ...

:rofl: :scared:

[Buzz Clik]

13. yes, indeed

[jackster]

16. Now THAT is FUNNY!

I almost spit coffee all over my keyboard!

[The Wielding Truth]

6. I just googled this. It may explain.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-5422(195803%2F04)60%3A2%3C105%3AMAESOR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6

[RebelOne]

8. Bad link

[The Wielding Truth]

27. It worked from google,sorry. Here are some night signing birds.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=+night++singing+birds&Submit2=Go

[Missy M]

7. I had the same experience a few mornings ago....

I woke up at 3:30AM and the birds were singing. I was surprised to hear them so early.

[woodsprite]

22. We're in a "bird-dense" area, and we've always had birds starting

to sing around about 3:30/4:00. When I have my windows open, it is hard to get a decent sleep. Especially since I'm a night owl. Yeah, we have those too. We get the tweets, chirps, and a TON of woodpeckers hammering away.

[Missy M]

38. I never noticed it before......

I'm an early riser so I think nothing of it at 5:00AM but I thought it was already that time when I heard them the other morning and was surprised it was only 3:30AM. I live in a heavily populated area and we get the usual robins, bluejays, cardinals etc. but maybe we are getting some other species around. We seem to have more than the usual amount of robins this year, I love them so it's enjoyable. What amazes me is in the Buffalo area we had our big October surpise storm and lost so many trees and also damaged so many (in my town it was between 27,000 and 31,000), yet we seem to have more birds this year than usual.

[peacetalksforall]

9. I've been confused in the early morning - can't figure out what time

it is because the birds are at it, but so much earlier and not related to daylight. I think about it every morning.

Am bird conscious lately - two tiny ones are in my kitchen window because I couldn't get the screen in right. Very clever little birds - they can get in from the side, but their two little pale blue eggs are protected from squirrels and other eaters. If the male is red, the male is busy elsewhere - only seems to arrive to check in on security, it seems. The nester breathes so heavy - like it is pumping breath into the eggs. So they are going about their business. They are very quiet.

[Sal Minella]

28. House Finch?

Pic of house finch eggs --
The male is red on cheeks and front.
My neighbor had a pair raise young successfully in a light fixture next to a busy garage door -- for some reason, house finches seem happy living inches from noisy, smelly humans.

[peacetalksforall]

40. Must be finches on all counts - I leaned over and took a closer look

when Mrs flew off for awhile - there are three eggs, not two and the nest looks similar - very interwoven. Mr is red and smaller than Mrs. He's gone a lot. And yes, the noise - a tv is near - and the smells - some garlic, onions will do it. I think they like Amy, Juan, Jon, and Steven. I'm a lucky person lately.

Thanks for the I.D. on them.

[glowing]

11. Not sure... but then again we all are so out of touch with nature,

we can't even hear the warning cries... most wouldn't have even thought of mentioning it because they hadn't noticed.

[Arkansas Granny]

15. Could it have been mockingbirds that you heard? Around my

house they seem to enjoy singing in the middle of the night and they are loud. It seems even louder, I think, when you don't have other bird songs or daytime noises to compete with them. A friend of mine had one that would start singing outside her bedroom window in the middle of the night and keep her awake for hours.

Edit to add:

At times, males, especially unmated males, sing through the night, especially during the full moon.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/NORMOC/

[Clark2008]

25. I have one of those.

He sings at 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m. - whenever I get up (and I'm 9 months pregnant, so I'm up every hour on the hour with an ache, a pain, in need of a restroom or water). I hear him all night long.

[Habibi]

17. Where I am

the birds always start up at about that time. Maybe it seems new to you 'cause you're usually asleep at that hour? (Whereas I usually wake up around then.)

It's spring, they're mating, they're breeding, they're happy.

[H2O Man]

32. Spring .....

That is a good point to keep in mind. There is a greater number and variety of birds around. Also, besides singing to the opposite sex, birds sing to notify others of potential dangers. I have a den of fox fairly close-by, and one or two of them have begun coming up my driveway in search of cat food around 3 am. I imagine our ancestors did a good bit of hunting in the pre-dawn hours. There's still a lot going on that time of day.

[H2O Man]

18. I do not think

that it is that unusual. I am often up all night, and enjoy listening to birds that sing well before the sun comes up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Our parrots do that

well the tiel has no schedule but that is another matter

Anyhow I used to epxperience that when camping too

Though if hshe lives on earthquake country, at times they know...

[H2O Man]

29. One of the

things that I enjoy at this time in life is being able to sit outside in the pre-dawn hours and listen to the natural world. Once in a while I might hear an vehicle of some sort in the distance. But usually just the natural world.

[paparush]

19. Yes..that they're 8 Miles High..

[laylah]

20. I live on the

Iowa/Illinois border and I have experienced the very same thing going on 3 weeks now! It is stange and, actually, a bit unnerving. Another bird/raptor I have heard through the day recently is an owl, which is totally weird, imvho.

[Justyce]

21. Maybe some bad weather coming. Birds seem to know -- A few days before Hurricane Rita hit,

the birds were going nuts, then they all either split or hid out & it was eerily quiet right before we evacuated. Very creepy.

[karlrschneider]

23. It's a normal thing here. Especially mockingbirds and owls

:D

[Sequoia]

31. Yes, mocking birds do that very early.

Is it starting to get light where you live? When I lived in Washington it would get light very early during the summer.

[karlrschneider]

36. Well sunrise is around 6:30 but I often hear them at 3 am

but only if I'm awake for some reason. They don't ever wake me up, I guess I 'tune them out' when I'm asleep. :-)

[Sequoia]

37. Lucky you.

I have neighbors that reve up their Chevy's at 3:30, 4:30, and 5 am. All these grown men live at home with their mom.


It's kinda like that:

[Virginia Dare]

24. Shortest nights of the year...

the birds stay up late and rise early, just like humans USED to do.

[bikebloke]

30. I've noticed it.

I moved flats last summer. At the old one, I would hear the birds just before dawn. Lately, I've been hearing them, thinking I had a short night's sleep. Finally I looked at the time and saw it was only 3 am.

[sakabatou]

33. Not t hat early

But I sometimes hear them around 5, 6 am.

[EstimatedProphet]

34. There's probably a migration going through right now

If they're singing, they're more likely to be happy (i.e. mating). If they're defensive or on guard about something, most songbirds will make a noise that sounds like 'chink' - a 1-note high-pitched chirp. It's unmistakeable.

Singing is a good thing.

[chemenger]

35. This is one of the funniest posts on DU

:rofl:


evah!

[blues90]

39. Odd that you mentioned this

I find the same thing here in southern calif , I hear birds all night long and never did before . As you said they usually begin at daybreak .

I thought it was the bright street lamps but they have been here for years , I also did not see the flocks of crow going south this year they hung around this time . Pehaps they went north were it was cooler .

something is certainly screwed up with nature and animals sense these things well before people feel the effects .

[OneBlueSky]

41. ok, ok . . . for those of you who think my tinfoil hat is on a little tight, maybe so . . .

I report this only because it's a natural phenomenon that is completely new in my area (lower Hudson Valley) . . . I've lived here a long time, and I'm often awake in the wee small hours, and until recently I have NEVER heard birds singing in the middle of the night . . . when something unusual happens in the natural world, I try to take notice . . .

hadn't considered the mockingbird possibility, so maybe that's the explanation . . . then again, maybe not . . . whatever the cause, it just struck me as a very strange and unusual phenomenon . . .

I'll go back to my basement now and try to re-calibrate the tinfoil . . . as the ad for the Hitchcock movie declared -- "The Birds is coming! The Birds is coming!" . . .