While the sound of melodious chirping by your window in the morning might wake you up, late-night croonings of nocturnal birds could keep you up at night. There are almost 4000 such birds that sing at night.
They find their voice when the world is quiet because that is when they're awake. They are rarely seen but most certainly heard, sometimes sending chills down your spine. This article aims to explore some of the most impressive singing birds from around the globe.
These birds imitate fellow birds like hawks, jays, or blackbirds and sometimes frog croaks, creaky doors, and car alarms. They combine these sounds to produce almost 200 songs in their lifetime.
Both male and female northern mockingbirds can sing. Their songs are a series of whistles, rasps, scolds, and trills. A combination of these sounds is repeated 2 to 6 times before a new song is produced.
The unmated males are often the ones we hear most. They have spring and fall playlists carefully curated for the females, which they can belt out for an entire day during the early summer breeding season. A female will only select males who produce intricate and complex songs.
Singing at night for a mate is a risky business for a common nightingale. It requires a lot of energy, resulting in weight loss. To compensate, they look for food during the day, exposing them to predators.
It has been reported that a common nightingale can perform over a thousand syllables, which are strung together to form a seemingly endless variety of compositions. This remarkable feat is due to an enlarged cerebral cortex responsible for animal intelligence and behavior.
This songster has an utterly unique style of singing that requires extended exposure to appreciate. One person who did value this bird’s talent was Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who produced a song mimicking this bird for his opera “The Nightingale” in 1914.
Apart from singing, these birds will clap their wings to warn intruders to stay away from their territory.
Not a true songbird, the whip-poor-will soulful call flowing through a forest across the Eastern U.S. and Southern Canada functions as a song. The male’s emphatic chants accent the first and last syllable, immediately starting in on the next call to create a circular rhythm.
They repeat this rhythm for hours during the spring and summer breeding season. During the day, they covertly sleep on the ground, where their plumage blends in with leaf litter, then venture out to eat insects at twilight before getting to work.
In rural Brazil, the great potoo is hunted for its feathers to be used in local ceremonies, as they are believed to possess powers that promote chastity and ward off seduction.
The last thing you would want to encounter in the still of the night is the eerie guttural sound, reminiscent of an angry cat, of a Great Potoo. It produces a haunting, gruff “BUAAaa” that many may not consider a song in the technical sense.
The potoo’s monstrous calls are not the spooky thing. It has several small slits on its upper eyelids that allow it to keep an eye on potential threats with its enormous eyes closed.
In 2015, the European robin was voted the UK's national bird in a poll, taking 34% of the final vote. Over 200,000 people took part in the voting.
One of the eight reasons the British loved the robin is its nocturnal performance. These birds are not naturally nocturnal, but they are the first birds you hear at dawn and the last ones after dusk.
Unlike other birds, robins sing throughout the year. This is due to their territorial and aggressive nature. These birds often clash with their own over territories, which sometimes escalate to injury or death and shorten their average lifespan.
Warblers are small, insect-eating songbirds that range from northern Europe, especially the southern central region of Sweden, across Asia and Oceania, and sometimes as far east as Africa and Hawaii.
The Great Reed male warbler sings songs of two varieties, long and short. The short ones last about one second and consist of stereo-typed, low-amplitude syllables to warn other males about territory and mates.
These warning calls are shorter, as the birds don’t want to be disturbed during their mating calls, which are longer songs that can last anywhere from four seconds to twenty minutes.
This heron produces a clicking sound by rapidly snapping its beak together during courtship and as a warning signal. This habit is known as bill snapping.
There are over 65 recognized species of herons, of which seven are nocturnal. These nocturnal herons are seen lazying in marshes, rivers, and ponds. They also nest in groves of trees, often in groups. They only forage for food after dusk to prevent being dominated by other bigger herons.
One of the best-known nocturnal species is the black-crowned night heron. Its barking squawks and raspy croaks aren't melodious and create an unsettling ambiance to its habitats after dark.
The nightjar has many names but none stranger than the goat sucker. According to an ancient myth common all over Europe, the nightjar was thought to drink milk directly from the goats, stemming from the birds' wide mouths and habit of feeding near grazing animals.
Out of all the birds that call at night, the Eurasian nightjar is famous for its unique trill or monotone purr, which can contain as many as 1,900 individual notes per minute.
This unique call is heard clearly during clear, calm weather and lasts throughout the night across much of Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
Black rails earned the nickname “the ghost of the marsh” because visual sightings are rare, even for experienced birdwatchers.
Black rails are about the size of a mouse and infamously difficult to see because of their dark feathers with white speckles that blend in with the deep shadows of dense vegetation. It’s easier to hear them late at night in spring when the male sings ki-ki-doo repeatedly.
Unfortunately, rapid urbanization has squeezed these birds out of their homes, resulting in the loss of 50% of their population in the last 50 years, and may become extinct in the next five decades.
The Wood Thrush can sing in two pitches at once. It sings pairs of notes simultaneously, one in each branch of its y-shaped syrinx, to produce a ventriloquial sound.
The wood thrush has a very harmonious song, often compared to the melody of a wind instrument such as a flute. The flute-like call of ee-oh-lay is unique to each bird, like fingerprints to humans.
These birds learn these calls from their adults or through their neighbors, resulting in a slightly new variation each time. During mating season, the males may end up in a singing competition, and no two males will sing the same song.
Tawny owls can recognize individual calls of their mates because each owl has a distinct hooting style.
Tawny Owls are the most frequently heard and seen owls in and around urban areas. Most of us are familiar with their hooting, which begins with a drawn-out “hoooo” followed by a pause and a soft “hu” before ending with a “huhuhuhoooo.” The male usually makes this sound, which is a territorial call.
The females might respond with a sharp “keewick.” The males and females may duet to produce the classic “twit twoo” sound, which many people associate with these owls.
All the musical compositions of the lyrebirds consist of only calls and sounds picked up from their natural habitat.
Superb Lyrebird is considered one of the largest songbirds in the world, known for its intricate courtship displays and almost flawless mimicry of other birds and animals.
Some male lyrebirds have been found singing the songs of over 20 bird species, including the kookaburra and the eastern whipbirds. The calls of other birds are not the only sounds that these birds can mimic. They can also reproduce sounds of people and machines, like car alarms, crying babies, and electronic games.
The female birds build nests of fibers that hang up to 70 inches long in almost 90-foot-tall trees. These nests are often clustered together in colonies.
The Montezuma oropendola is a tropical bird found throughout Central America. They are related to the blackbird, another impressive singing bird, but apart from their singing abilities, they bear no resemblance. They have striking yellow tails, but nothing stands out more than their courtship display.
These birds sound like a mix of lasers, a series of musical notes, and a unique bubbling sound like liquid being poured. They make these mating calls as they hang upside down on a perch with their wings in full display.
The greater hoopoe lark survives its arid habitat by sheltering in burrows during the midday heat and losing water through its skin according to the temperature.
The Greater Hoopoe-Lark spends much of its time running along the desert floor and only takes to the skies during the mating season.
The males sing various rising and falling notes consisting of trilled whistles and clicks while performing their dramatic aerial dives to attract a mate.
Experts claim this bird’s singing is the most human-like, with distinct rhythms, pitch changes, and tonal harmonies.
You know a bird has impressive singing abilities when it has “musician” in its name.
The musician wren might be tiny in stature, coming in under 5 inches, but there is nothing little about its achievements as a singer. Its songs consist of rich, fluting notes with different pitches of chirps and rattles, earning it the “Most Musical Bird in the World” nomination.
House finches are one of the few bird species adapted to living in urban environments with humans and artificial structures.
House Finches sing sweetly but often have a sharp, buzzy upward or downward slur at the end. Their songs usually last three seconds.
However, their songs may vary depending on their environment and audience. They can modify their singing according to their location and the time of day.
The male sparrows have song dialects, meaning their songs differ according to the place and experience, like human accents.
The Song Sparrow lives up to its name, singing their way to love throughout the year. Their singing starts with loud, clanking three to four short notes that finish with a varied buzz or trill.
Males will sing over 20 variations of this tune during mating season. Female song sparrows are attracted to unique songs and the male’s singing abilities.
Chickadees have a large hippocampus, an area in the brain related to memory, which helps them remember their food cache.
A chickadee’s songs and calls are easily recognizable thanks to their simplicity. Their song has two clear notes that drop in pitch that sound like “fee-bee.”
However, despite the song’s simplicity, experts claim the meanings are complex. These birds also have a gargling call, often given aggressively when a lower-ranking bird gets close to a higher-ranking one.
Eastern bluebirds are cavity nesters, meaning they build their nests in natural or artificial cavities because they cannot build their own.
Male fledglings usually start with a primary song but continue to pick up and add notes and phrases for more complex song types as they mature into adult Eastern bluebirds.
According to ornithologists, they can sing 309 different song types, of which many sound similar to the human ear but can be discernible on sonograms. Surprisingly, only six of the 309 songs were shared amongst the bluebirds.
At only five grams, the golden-crowned kinglet is the world’s smallest passerine, but it can eat more than birds twice its size because of its extremely high metabolism. It may die if it does not eat every few hours.
A golden-crowned kinglet sings an ascending, accelerating series of up to 14 very high-pitched notes lasting up to 3 seconds, ending with a drop in octave.
Interestingly, its singing becomes less audible as people age and are affected by presbycusis.
Why Do Birds Sing at Night
The last thing on the minds of birds that can sing at night is to disturb you. These singing birds are working for specific purposes.
1. Seek Mate
Singing birds at night, especially male birds, use all their singing abilities to capture the hearts and ears of willing females. Their singing may get drowned out in the day from all the noise, which is why they get to work at night. It is quieter, and there is less competition once the sun sets.
Birds usually vocalize at night for a partner during breeding season in spring. Even diurnal birds (birds that are most active during the day) call for mates at night during this time, which is why it can get loud. Most humans may find them annoying. After all, birds that sing at night sound like nothing but a bunch of rowdy gurgles, chirps, cackles, and hoots.
2. Warning Calls
Birds get aggressively vocal when prey is nearby to warn other birds a predator is lurking nearby.
Other birds sometimes even take up the warning call and join in, thus creating a ripple effect that amplifies the sound. This is particularly important for species that live in flocks or colonies.
3. Sudden Noises
Birds, like humans, get startled out of their sleep when they hear sudden loud noises like thunder and fireworks. The shaking of tree branches by sound vibrations may be an aggravating factor.
They interpret the sounds and tree vibrations as potential threats, so an automatic response is to start singing to assess the situation or signal to other birds in the area. This kind of response is common in birds who live in urban and suburban environments.
4. Marking Territory
Most birds are territorial, and at night, without visual cues, they have to rely on singing to signal ownership in a quieter and less competitive territory and prevent other birds from moving in. During the stillness of the night, when there is no wind, traffic, or animal noises, their nocturnal songs travel far and wide, which a neighboring bird can hear and let them know the place is already owned and their presence will not be welcome.
Birds, especially male birds, are extra-territorial during the mating season. They want other males to keep their distance, and singing reduces the need for physical altercations with other birds, a time they could spend finding mates.
Many birds migrate at night to keep a low profile from their prey, relying on sight. They utilize nighttime singing to maintain communication and reinforce group cohesion. Their melodious singing helps identify each other and signal others of their location to a bird separated from the group.
When the flock takes a break to forage for food, the variations in their call signal others about food sources. Vocalization is thus a means of sharing food information so that all group members can benefit from it, which is particularly important during nocturnal foraging.
6. Confusion
You will notice that birds in urban areas are more likely to sing at night. This is because artificial light sources from buildings and on the street confuse the birds about the time and disrupt their natural behavior patterns. Diurnal birds, like robins and thrushes, are tricked by these light sources into extending their singing into the night.
It has been reported that some birds start their performance before their rural counterparts and may also sing louder to drown out the ambient light levels. Therefore, sometimes, the loud nighttime singing is neither aggression nor protection of territory but rather the result of environmental signals altering the birds' perception of day and night.
7. Species-Specific Behavior
Nocturnal birds are naturally adapted to singing at night because it aligns with their biological rhythms and ecological roles. These birds have distinct motivations and make the most of the less contested night hours.
For instance, owls use songs to claim territory or attract mates in the dark, while a whip-poor-will repetitively belts out the same tune to warn others not to bother him or his home. Nighttime singing is thus an essential adaptation for these species to survive in their unique habitats.
