Birds start singing at different times, and just like an orchestra, there's a set sequence.
Early birds
All the chirping, peeping and tweeting you hear in the early morning is called the “dawn chorus.” It's when birds are singing louder and prouder than at any other time of day, and there are a few ideas about why that happens.
Birds Perform Loudest in the Morning
They warm up, to help ensure that when it's their time to shine, they perform at their best. Duke University researchers have discovered that birds do the same thing in the early morning, just as the sun is shining.
The term relates to the birds known as larks, which are known to sing before dawn. Human "larks" may sleep from around 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (or earlier), and tend to feel most energetic just after they get up in the morning. They are thus well-suited for working the day shift.
In North America, mockingbirds are famous nighttime songsters, as are Common Nightingales of the Old World. A primary reason male birds sing is to attract mates, and it has been found that unmated mockingbirds and nightingales sing at night more frequently than mated males.
someone who gets up early in the morning or who does something before other people.
For many years, the prevailing theory was that those early hours are typically the coolest and driest hours of the day which allowed bird songs to travel the farthest, giving their voices better range. It's sending a message to other males that they should stay away…and the farther away the better.
When you hear a bird warbling, you probably think the crooner is male. And chances are if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you would be right. But females also evolved to sing, and many still do—although generally less than the males.
Nocturnal birds, like owls and nighthawks, wake up as the sun sets and hunt at night. During the daytime, they find a safe place and close their eyes to block out the light. By contrast, most birds are diurnal, meaning they're awake during the day and asleep at night.
Most birds are active during daylight hours so you don't expect to hear bird song at night. For some birds, chirping at night is a sign of danger but for others it's a way of life.
Birds may begin singing pre-dawn because there is not enough daylight to successfully forage and accomplish other daily tasks. After the dawn chorus, birds have to get back to their daily routine.
Stebbins' Morning Glory (Calystegia stebbinsii) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Early birds are people with a natural habit of waking early, and often also going to bed before it gets too late. You can also call someone who arrives early to events, movies, the airport, or appointments as an early bird.
You may have noticed a cacophony of birdsong in the wee hours of the morning. Scientists call this the dawn chorus. It can start as early as 4:00 a.m. and last several hours. Birds can sing at any time of day, but during the dawn chorus their songs are often louder, livelier, and more frequent.
Larger birds such as thrushes and doves are among the earliest singers because they are more active earlier in the day, while smaller species often join an hour or two later.
Why do birds sing so early? Early mornings are too dark to search for food, and too dark to be spotted by predators. That makes it the perfect time to sing. As there is less background noise and the air is so still, sound carries around 20 times further than it would later in the day.
The first birds you'll hear singing are the likes of blackbirds, robins and wrens, as they are generally the first birds to wake in the morning.
The comb-crested jacana is also known as the lotus bird, lily trotter or Jesus bird, as it often seems to be walking on water.
Most adults stop singing as they are no longer defending their territories or in search of a mate. Instead, they are busy rearing their young and teaching them how to find their own food before they fly south for the winter.
Even though most bird songs last only a few seconds, that's a lot of warbling! A Yellowhammer, a European bunting, may sing over 3,000 times a day. But the Yellowhammer doesn't even come close to the North American record-holder, this Red-eyed Vireo. One such vireo delivered its song over 22,000 times in ten hours!
Yes, birds sleep. Most songbirds find a secluded branch or a tree cavity, fluff out their down feathers beneath their outer feathers, turn their head to face backward and tuck their beak into their back feathers, and close their eyes. Waterbirds sometimes sleep in the water.
The northern mockingbird, a medium-sized gray bird, is one of the most notorious singers, taking great joy from chirping and mimicking other bird calls at all hours of the day and night. “Not only do they sing in the morning, but they sing loud,” Capra said.
Sleeping birds are not only dreaming, but probably dreaming about the songs they sing during the day, researchers said on Thursday. They said their findings add to evidence that dreaming helps animals -- including humans--"rehearse" things they have learned to do in the day, and help them perform better the next day.