Shouldnt the birds be sleeping?

Its 1am, im in the Uk and I should be enjoying the football highlights on the TV but all I can hear is birds tweeting in the trees outside.

Has anyone else noticed this as being bizzare?

Its been happening for almost 2 weeks maybe longer. If feels so strange to hear birds tweeting when its pitch black outside.

I think most of us will agree that the only time we usually hear them in the middle of the night is when were walking home from a good night out. Usually that is around 4am ish.

Why is this happening?

What do they sense?

Are they mockingbirds?

They will stay up all night for weeks at a time mimicking and singing in hopes to nab a potential mate.

Originally posted by spinkyboo
Are they mockingbirds?

They will stay up all night for weeks at a time mimicking and singing in hopes to nab a potential mate.

Maybe....I havent got a clue its too dark to see them. But good point. I need to look further into it.

But its not something I have heard that much before and I have lived in this area for 30 years.

My brother has also mentioned this to me too who lives not too far away...

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this?

Originally posted by davidifty

Originally posted by spinkyboo
Are they mockingbirds?

They will stay up all night for weeks at a time mimicking and singing in hopes to nab a potential mate.

Maybe....I havent got a clue its too dark to see them. But good point. I need to look further into it.

But its not something I have heard that much before and I have lived in this area for 30 years.

My brother has also mentioned this to me too who lives not too far away...

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this?

If there are more than 2 at a time - and it sounds like there are - then they will not likely be mockingbirds. Also - like you said - not something you have heard much before. The birds are doing some really strange things of late - as you probably know. Traveling in the wrong direction - being found in unlikely places - etc. I would not be surprised if they are just confused -

Yes I am UK too..they have been doing it in my area for a few weeks. Its not just one or two...its like all of them. I am 55 and have never heard it before.

I think they are just normal birds (normal to someone who knows nothing about birds).....i will video the sounds and upload tomorrow.

Originally posted by sueloujo
Yes I am UK too..they have been doing it in my area for a few weeks. Its not just one or two...its like all of them. I am 55 and have never heard it before.

Relief - so im not imagining it.

There is no new construction round here or anything.... im in just a small village in south manchester.

reply to post by davidifty


Well stranger and stranger...I am in a small village south of manchester. They sound like the blackbirds to me and not starlings. Your right though it does seem odd to hear them when you are about to go to sleep. (reminds me of my youth..coming in late)

Maybe this will explain...

The culprit has usually been thought to be light, cities being so bright at night that the birds stop chirping later or start earlier.

Now a study of European robins in Sheffield, England, suggests that it is noise, not light, that drives these birds to sing at night.

The study, by Richard A. Fuller and colleagues at the University of Sheffield, measured noise levels and singing at 67 sites around the city, where on average ambient noise was an order of magnitude lower at night than during the day. They found that birds sang only during the day at 49 of the sites, and both day and night at 18. Daytime noise levels at these 18 sites were significantly higher than those at the others.

more here...

www.nytimes.com...

yup it's been going on for quite awhile now.
i first noticed it around 2006 in north carolina
heres a thread already discussing it.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

there is also another more recent thread. .i couldn't find it though.

-

yup it's been going on for quite awhile now.
i first noticed it around 2006 in north carolina
heres a thread already discussing it.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

there is also another more recent thread. .i couldn't find it though.

-

Quarter to three in the morning in Peterborough, England here, can hear birdsong quite clearly. However, there's a Tesco warehouse with strong lighting nearby, so that could be confusing the local wildlife.

Originally posted by davidiftyHas anyone else noticed this as being bizzare?

Absolutley,

Im located in the North East Lancashire area and have, over the past 9 weeks, heard and seen birds being active @ 3am. They would go on until around 5.30am then stop and then continue again around 6.30am.

I dont live near a city nor do i live near a brightly lit up area so i will disagree with the article Walkswithfish presented.

Whats stranger than that is this - being a photographer i would frequently spend time in a purpose built Hide in the middle of a forest, with the intention of photographing birds early in the morning as they are most active and out feeding thus one can get good results. Well, ive noticed birds doing the exact same thing, singing and being active earlier than usual. Its baffling to say the least!

I dont have an explanation as to why its happening. I do know that its not being caused by one [1] breed of bird, but many different ones! Its like when one [1] starts, others join in.

Has me confused lol

I think ill start taking notes on the time its happening and also the species involved. Though just like i said above, there appears to be other species involved, but not all. This will give me something to do while sitting bored in the Hide lolol

Regards

IP

[edit on 28-1-2009 by InfoProvider]

I mentioned this too on another thread:-
Skywatching post

While I was in the garden skywatching the other night. The birds started singing around 1am. I don't usually hear them 'til 3ish. Also the sky looked unusually light as though it was the hour before dawn. I captured the lightness in the picture below.. I also live in a small village, near Manchester..

THIS WAS 1.15AM


Orion constellation by the way...

Edit:- Cos I don't know the difference between here n hear..

[edit on 28/1/2009 by UKWO1Phot]

Also don't forget about Nightingales. They sing at night as well.

A single male mockingbird can sound like a whole flock of other birds - and also he can sound like many different varieties of birds. If you have ever heard one, he sounds like a whole bunch of birds singing all at once. And he goes on and on and on until he finds a mate. Mockingbirds really sing quite beautifully but they can be a nuisance when they are right outside your window. They are also very LOUD.

I am not saying that is what you've got, it's just one possibility.

I think what is stranger than the birds singing at night is....3 of us are from small villages outside manchester

I found this link from the BBC which would seem to make sense.

news.bbc.co.uk...

A month or so ago I noticed birds flying around or tweeting at night, it's happened several times since that now. It did seem odd when you don't usually hear them at that time. I live near alot of trees, and during the day, mostly blue jays, the odd hummingbird, crows (or black birds) others and a family of 5 or 6 Eagles. I live near Vancouver, Canada.

Another unusual thing is with Crows, at least I think they're crows, very noisy. It's ilke the Birds movie, they're swarming all over the yard, trees and road, and visit each house, then come back in giant sweeping motions, not circling, and repeat the sequence over and over for about an hour. Somethng about their movement just seems unusual.

I've always noticed birds at the early morning and later at night. I work nights, see them awake at certain points.

It's been happening where I live too. We first noticed them a couple of months back.

As we finish work late, 10pm, we'll usually be up till 3am and they're going at it constantly, to the point that we had to close the windows to be able to watch a film in peace. We love that they're right outside our window, they're sweet, but they drive me nuts sometimes!

My boyfriend used to live next to a cemetary which was bustling with wildlife and so more used to a variety of critters being around than I am and he tells me this is unusual. He did say what birds he thought were responsible for the noise but I can't remember right now. I'll check with him later.

My brother also commented one night after taking my dog for a walk, most likely sometime after midnight, that the birds were freaking him out. He'd been ~smoking~ but he felt genuinely confused as to what the time was and thought that it was the early hours of the morning, more like 4-5am.

I'm glad that others have noticed it, interested to see what explanations crop up here