Middle of the Night Bird Noises

"If that mockingbird won't sing, I'm going to buy you a diamond ring."

A little late but I did hear some birds in the front of the house late in the evening for about a week. We sleep in the front but I have a noise ocean sounding machine. I'll take bird sounds over car service idiots honking at 3am. Couple of months ago we had a woodpecker in the back. One evening my husband heard some guy yell SHUT UP WOODPECKER. Quite funny actually. Anyone here?

veets 3 million? Am I behind in park slope real estate news?

I live nearby and also hear the mockingbird, in fact, he's a yearly visitor. He's my spring herald as he usually arrives in April. I kind of like his vocalizations, mainly because I study bird songs and it has become a game identifying his string of mimics. Sometimes he surprises me with a bird song I wouldn't expect, like a whip-poor-will. I actually have a photo of ole' Blabbermouth that I took from an adjacent roof.

http://citybirder.blogspot.com/2007/05/memorial-day-after-some-technical.html

If it makes you feel any better, the hawks in the cemetery have been regularly dining on mockingbirds. They must be easy pickin's because they're so busy announcing their presence that they aren't paying attention. There's one in the cemetery (at least used to be) that regularly made Red-tailed Hawk calls. Was he asking to be eaten?

The one at 5th Street is in the sights of a young pair of hawks that recently moved to the hood and hang around the north end of the park. If he's not careful, this could be Blabbermouth's last year in the slope.

I love our northern mockingbird; he's an opera singer. But even Caruso can be a pain if you're trying to sleep. One theory is urban mockingbirds that sing at night will sit facing the brightest light available. (Shows off their plumage.) If you have a backyard light, try turning it off or shading it.

Subject: why birds sing at night

City birds sing for silent nights

Robins in urban areas are singing at night because it is too noisy during the day, researchers suggest.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield say there is a link between an area's daytime noise levels and the number of birds singing at night.

Until now, light pollution had been blamed because it was thought that street lights tricked the birds into thinking it was still daytime.

The findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

"You generally only seem to hear nocturnal singing in cities," explained Richard Fuller, one of the study's co-authors.

"So this led us to think that there was some aspect of the urban environment that was driving this phenomenon."

Shedding light

Light pollution had been widely held as the prime suspect. It was thought to prevent the birds from roosting, leading to them remaining active through the hours of darkness.

"That was the stock answer you would get," Dr Fuller said, "that it was basically tricking the birds into thinking it was daylight and tripping some sort of physiological threshold.

"But we thought that was pretty unlikely because birds are much more complex than that."

He said that there had never been a scientific study to measure the impact of light pollution on the behaviour of urban robins.

"So we went out and measured both noctural light and daytime noise levels and we found that daytime noise had a far stronger effect.

"We found that night-time light had a small effect, but very much smaller than the impact of noise levels."

This led the team to conclude that it was an active decision by the birds to sing at night rather than passively responding to light levels.

"The birds appear to be singing at night to avoid competition with high noise levels caused by our cities during the day," Dr Fuller suggested.

"Noise levels were 10 times higher in places where birds were singing at night."

The findings form a part of a seven-year research programme by the university's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences to measure the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6591649.stm
Published: 2007/04/25 12:21:53 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Since he's announcing his territory and won't stop until the breeding season is over, maybe you can beat him at his own game. Mockingbirds mimic what they hear, so give him new input. Put your speakers up on the roof during the day and play something painfully lethargic. How about "The Magic of Zamfir, the Undisputed King of the Pan Flute"? He may not stop singing, but his late-night rants will either lull you to sleep or bore you to death.