Why Are Birds Singing At Night

Why Are Birds Singing At Night

www.scrippsnews.com

Why do the birds go on singing -- at night?

The common expectation (right up there with the sun rising in the east, leaves dropping in the fall, and the cat wanting back in as soon as someone has let it out) is that birds sing in the sunshine.

They're supposed to be early birds, right?

But across Fresno, Calif., and elsewhere, more-than-casual observers have noticed birds singing long after dark this summer.

Were the birds singing at night all along and people just now noticed?

Could mockingbirds -- those raucous late-night partiers of the bird world -- be mocking the sound of songbirds?

Could a cat with hunting prowess have moved into the neighborhood, keeping the birds awake at night? Or is it another sign of city life changing the natural world?

In England, researchers found that the British robin was forced to sing at night because daytime traffic was drowning out his mating serenades.

The study by Richard A. Fuller and colleagues at the University of Sheffield, published in 2007, measured noise levels and singing at 67 sites around their city. They found that birds sang only during the day at 49 sites, and day and night at 18 sites. Daytime noise levels at those 18 sites were significantly higher than at the others.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I started researching this purely because after 4 years in the same house right at the very quiet and very dark edge of the desert, we have songbirds singing through the night for the first time ever.

The research seems to support a conclusion that this phenomenon only started to be noticed late in 2008.

Just what is going on, could this be a sign of something more significant, a change in our environment perhaps?

One thing is for sure, they are not singing in my neighborhood because of high ambient light levels or excessive noise during the day, it's pitch black at night and you can hear a pin drop during the day.

Something odd is going on.

www.scrippsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I dont know if you have seen any other threads but I was confused by the birds singing at night.

Here is the thread I spoke on.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

i also noticed in the past couple of nights birds singin at night in my area which is very very uncommon, i live in ayrshire in scotland , will defo be keeping an eye on this thread to see if anyone else has noticed this wierd behaviour.

in my area its pretty dark at night and like you said my friend you could hear a pin drop during the day.

hmmm i wonder whats causing this and all the other wierd goings on in the world, maybe were all just gettin hyped up or maybe something big is about to happen.

well as they say, times the best story teller

peace friends xxx

i've noticed it this year, i'm in ireland. i'm in quite a rural area so i'ld say it's not likely to be ambient noise or light levels either. i thought it was just me and i hadn't noticed it before now.

Not only have I noticed them singing at night, but I have also observed certain species CHANGING their usual vocalizations over the past few years. In particular, the DOVES in my area are making odd sounds over the past couple of years that I had never heard in the previous DECADES come from them.

Something is indeed going on.

Actually I noticed this here in Texas where I live just in the last couple of weeks. My friend was wondering why I kept looking around-but I didn't say anything about it. I thought that it was strange-but didn't warrant any more research from me.

Yes, making the same experience here in Germany for the first time, very odd indeed! I think there are many scenarios that could trigger such behavior, city life being the least important... Its like whales and dolphins stranding on beaches

Interesting, the birds have begun to do the same thing here in New Orleans, Louisiana. I asked the people around here if they heard the same thing and they do. My neighbor said that theyare all making the same sort of song. Its strange, maybe a warning or a celebration?

I am in Scotland have recently noticed robins and blackbirds giving warning calls as well as singing as late as midnight, when I give my dog it''s last walk. I am not sure what this means, but I wondered if it might relate to global warming in the context that their territory is being invaded by outsiders.

2 pence

That's really weird. Where I live it's still too cold for song birds to be out yet, but I'll keep an ear open when it gets warmer out.

This is turning into an A.Hitchcock movie,. The birds have sung here for, i dont dont know, like mid February, and I live in Oslo Norway , a winter land even ......

The pineal gland is an endocrine organ in the brain. It controls sleep/wake cycles in all vertebrates including birds it is sensitive to/activated/inactivated by environmental stressors including light, radiation, magnetic fields (especially important in birds), nutritional status, temperature (global warming anyone?), and altitude. General health/physiologic changes can also affect its output of chemicals (melatonin)

Light pollution is the usual cause. It is a huge deal with many species even small amounts of increased light in mice can change mating and reproductive behavior. We see this in lab mice, even when we illuminate the rooms with different wavelength light so they are not stimulated if the door opens too much due to people coming in and out the light from the hall way which is also dimmed is enough to mess up their cycles. I live in a city and lived in a different city growing up and have always heard birds at night, especially in parking structures, so while this is not a new phenomena it may be reaching new places.

In the city it is almost definitely caused by light but who knows maybe out where you are any changes in the radiation levels, magnetic fields, temperature changes, nutrition or health of the birds, could be responsible for increased stimulation of birds at night. Cause it seems to be more birds and not mammals, I would be highly suspect of magnetic field changes, but that is just a guess!

One more thing I would be worried about the reproduction in these animals? I wonder if studies have been done on clutch size/health in city birds active at night versus the same species in a darker more rural environment.

[edit on 3/20/2009 by kupoliveson]

I have read some of the posts and even though I can agree with most of your theories, nothing much has changed in my area recently.
Wether it be light polution temprature etc etc. It has been a cold winter, and no additional lights in the area whatsoever.

I live on the outskirts of london and also since December 2008, noticed that birds were singing all night long. But loudly as they would usually do on a spring or summers morning just before day break.

....but the past few months they even did this in winter...singing very loud the whole night through...

I dunno if its the singing or that I am also more awake at night, but I've been suffering major insomnia at night, and been feeling really sleepy in the daytime.

Maybe something major is going on with earths magnetic fields as discussed in one of the forums on this site!

I suppose only time will tell, as speculating over possible environmentry issues isnt the way to go IMO.

reply to post by kupoliveson


I tend to agree with the magnetic field theory since we know that the field has been in flux. Of course the field is also sensitive to solar and galactic phenomenon as well. Very interesting.......

Originally posted by kupoliveson
In the city it is almost definitely caused by light but who knows maybe out where you are any changes in the radiation levels, magnetic fields, temperature changes, nutrition or health of the birds, could be responsible for increased stimulation of birds at night.

interesting ideas. it has to be something.

i am absolutely sure there has been no increase in light levels locally in the past number of years, there is no reason i can think of for an unnatural rise in radiation levels, the birds seem healthy and well fed and the variety of locations suggests it isn't temperature.

magnetic fields seems likely but one thing puzzles me, if it were magnetic field changes i would expect racing pigeons to be affected pretty badly. i've done a quick google and i can't find any reports of disorientated or confused birds, but it was just a quick look. any pigeon fanciers on ATS?

wasn't there a theory on the disappearance of bees linked to magnetic fields?




[edit on 20/3/09 by pieman]

I live in the North of Idaho and the birds here seem to be singing at the normal time about 1 to 2 hours before sunup. I will observe this further to see for sure when they start singing here. I live in a small town with street lights on every corner, and am awake at night primarily, so I'll watch and see.

The Beatles were in on the conspiracy

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Plenty of them round here at the moment. The Robin has always sung at night in winter as it's one of the few songbirds that maintains a territory in winter.

www.rspb.org.uk...

Fortunatley we don't get mocking birds in the UK

www.wild-bird-watching.com...

But birds have been singing at night for millions of years - any ornithologist knows this!

That said, there may be evidence they are tending to sing more at night nowadays to compete with human noise during the day

news.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by pieman


I remember a couple years back hearing about migratory birds getting further and further off course due to the field reversing. Maybe something to google.

Originally posted by pieman
i've noticed it this year, i'm in ireland. i'm in quite a rural area so i'ld say it's not likely to be ambient noise or light levels either. i thought it was just me and i hadn't noticed it before now.

I'm in the us in a rural area. I noticed this last summer also and thought that it was a little strange, but exactly the same thing--that perhaps I just hadn't noticed it before or as the article stated that it was some type of mockingbird.

Thanks for starting the thread, Retseh!

edit: It's probably the mockingbird, I've seen them around after searching the photos.

[edit on 20-3-2009 by elfie]