As the spring days lengthen, the magical boundary between night and day is marked with a symphony. At dawn, when the air is still and just a thread of curved light brightens the edge of the horizon, a chorus starts to build. Birds begin to sing in ones and twos, then by tens and hundreds and thousands, until the boisterous chorale wakes the neighborhood. While most people enjoy the beauty of bird song, certainly there are many folks who wonder why those feathered alarm clocks go off so early. And why isn’t there a snooze button so that one could enjoy a few more moments in bed?
To the singers, the wee hours of day are the best time to communicate their social standing to their neighbors. The dim light of dawn is not a good time to go foraging. Food, like insects and seeds, may be difficult to find, so it's a great time to try and attract a mate. Singing also brings the risk of attracting a predator, so it is better done before the bright morning light betrays the singer's position.
Although some resident birds sing year round, bird song is louder and more abundant during the breeding season. It's the male bird that typically sings. Their intense bouts of song help male birds exchange information, establish and defend a territory, and attract a mate. Singing is hard work, and uses hard-won food reserves, so it is the fittest, best-fed males who produce the strongest, most impressive song. Females therefore choose a mate who sings best, because such a male is more likely to be able to defend their territory, and to pass successful genes to their young. In many species, once the female has been attracted, the male will sing less often. A bird that sings on and on, late into summer and fall, is probably a lonely bachelor who has failed to attract a mate.
The first birds begin to sing about an hour before sunrise. If you listen carefully, you may notice that there is a regular sequence, with some species habitually starting before others. Among the earliest to sing are thrushes, robins and blackbirds. Wrens and warblers typically join in later. These smaller birds are probably more sensitive to the cold.
If you want to listen to a dawn chorus, then the best days to choose are those with clear weather and little wind. It can be cold early in the day, so dress in layers of warm clothes. Get into position a good hour before sunrise, and enjoy the arrival of the performers as each takes their turn on stage.
Learning bird calls can open a new window of beauty and depth for your birding adventures. While time and practice will ultimately improve your skills, here are a some tips for learning and recalling birdsong:
- To use bird vocalizations effectively as a means of identification you need some basic method of representing the songs and calls. Many field guides represent sounds using phonetics. Bird vocalizations are described in similar sounding words and in some instances the bird is named because of the sound it makes. For example, the song of a black-capped chickadee is phonetically written as “chick-a-dee-dee.” Different birders hear the same song or call differently. If the phonetic representation found in your field guide does not make sense to you, make up your own!
- Use a field guide of local birds to determine ahead of time which birds you would be most likely to hear. Write a list of these species and listen to recordings of their songs. Libraries and online sites dedicated to birding often have recordings of most species. Keep in mind, however, that birds also have "dialects". Finches on the eastern seaboard may sound different than those in your backyard. Try to listen to recordings that were made in your geographic area.