Night Singing

The other day, I heard an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) singing at 4:09 a.m. Another night-singer you might hear in our parts is the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), pictured here in full diurnal aria.

What you definitely won’t hear here is the “Blackbird singing in the dead of night” of the Beatles, because that’s Turdus merula, the Common Blackbird of Europe. Same as the bird that jumps out of the pie; in fact, it’s very like it’s Turdus cousin, our Robin, in habits, except for singing all through the night. In the Scottish Highlands, I did hear them through the short nights of summer.