Night Long
Crazy Bird Singing All Night Long
Male
Mockingbirds
get so ramped up on hormones during the breeding season that they often sing all day and all night! Songbirds like mockingbirds sing for two purposes—to attract a mate and to defend their territories. Usually it is just the un-mated males that sing in the middle of the night—males that already have a mate may sing for a couple hours after dark and start up again an hour or so before it gets light. Since singing in birds is related to ambient light levels, in cities or yards with exterior lights, even mated males may sing through the night. Mockingbirds may nest two or three times each year, between late January (in the South, a month or two later in the North) and mid-August—so that can be a lot of singing!
Trying to
stop a bird from singing
is like trying to stop the wind from blowing–very tough! If it works for you, the best bet may be to get some good soft foam earplugs to at least allow you to sleep in comfort. If you do want to declare war on the mockingbirds, you can also try visual deterrents (http://absolutebirdcontrol.com/products/visual-deterrents) like balloons and diverters hung around the tree or nearby to encourage the bird to move elsewhere. These work best during the day, but if you have outdoor lighting they can work at night too. They often have to be moved around every day or so, otherwise the birds just get used to them and realize they aren’t really a threat.
If you are tech savvy, you can try recording the singing of the actual mockingbird in your yard, and playing it back to him. That can eventually drive them away, or at least to the other end of their territory, which hopefully is a bit farther away from your home!
In severe cases, you may want to consider altering your landscaping. Make sure you don’t have tall trees with perches for singing near your window. Mockingbirds nest in thick shrubs and hedges, so if you don’t want the birds nesting in your yard, don’t invite them to nest by providing a perfect nesting habitat. Since mockingbirds will feed a lot of insects (including garden pests) to their young during the nesting season, you might actually reconsider evicting them from your yard. As you get to know your mockingbird neighbors better, you may even find yourself less irritated by their nighttime singing.
More Info on Mockingbirds
Northern Mockingbird (All About Birds) [link to: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_mockingbird/id]
Northern Mockingbird (Audubon) [link to: http://birds.audubon.org/species/normoc]
The Zen of Living with Mockingbird Singing [link to: http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/mockingbird.html]
Night Singing (Mass Audubon) [link to: http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife/index.php?subject=Birds:%20Behavior&id=14]
Lionel Richie – All Night Long
 |
The First Years Night and Day Bottle Warmer System $29.99 About the size of a coffee maker, this electric baby bottle cooler/warmer will be a big convenience for bleary-eyed parents who are tired of stumbling down to the kitchen in the middle of the night. At the rear of the unit, an insulated compartment keeps two 8-ounce bottles cool for up to eight hours. (There’s no refrigerant, just a specially shaped container that can be filled with water, fr… |
 |
Winsome Wood Wine Cabinet with Glass Door, Espresso $116.94 Safely stow that special-occasion chardonnay and maintain easy access to everyday table reds with this handsome Winsome Wood wine cabinet. Crafted of solid wood with a rich Espresso stain, the cabinet holds 16 wine bottles in individual cubbyholes, 8 to 12 long-stem glasses in the hanging rack above, and accessories such as openers and decanters on the open shelf. A framed glass door protects the … |
 |
OWLS ~ Scrabble Tile Wine Glass Charms ~ Set #1 ~ PAIR & A SPARE ~ Set of 3 ~ Stemware Charms/Markers/Pendants $19.99 OWLS ~ Wine Glass Charm Collection! Set #1 includes 3 different, individual charms so you can easily identify your glass by the charm attached around the stem. Need more? Pick up two, three or more sets for your next gathering. I have many sets for you to choose from. ALL ORDERS SHIP PRIORITY USPS. ***NOTE*** I can ship (6 sets of 3) in a $6.95 – 1 lb. Priority Box so be sure to check out my ma… |
 |
Back in Black $5.95 Most critics complain Back in Black, the album AC/DC recorded after the death of their original lead screamer Bon Scott, is ridiculously juvenile, obvious, snickering, bludgeoning, derivative, single-minded about sex and booze, a big cartoon. All true, of course, and–on rock ‘n’ ragers like “What Do You Do For Money Honey,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and the title track–all great. As Scott’s… |
 |
The Beatles Stereo Box Set $144.94 BEATLES THE STEREO BOXSET WITH DOCS (16CD+1DVD)… |
 |
The Definitive Collection $6.86 Includes the Commodores classics \Three Times a Lady… |
![The Halloween Tree [VHS]](http://www.ezeewp.com/send.php?i=aHR0cDovL2VjeC5pbWFnZXMtYW1hem9uLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvSS81MU5IM0U0VlZSTC5fU0wxNjBfLmpwZw%3D%3D) |
The Halloween Tree [VHS] $9.98 Spock (Leonard Nimoy) waxes spooky as Death personified in this video retelling of Ray Bradbury’s classic Halloween adventure. A Hanna-Barbera animated presentation, The Halloween Tree tells the story of four close friends who must face their greatest fears as they travel through time to save their dear comrade, Pip. It’s Halloween night, Pip’s favorite holiday, and the friends are baffled to spot… |
![Night Shift [VHS]](http://www.ezeewp.com/send.php?i=aHR0cDovL2VjeC5pbWFnZXMtYW1hem9uLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvSS81MUFOMVZQUVlQTC5fU0wxNjBfLmpwZw%3D%3D) |
Night Shift [VHS] $2.99 Ron Howard’s breakthrough film as a director launched Michael Keaton as a screen comic. In this film, he is teamed with a hangdog Henry Winkler as a pair of night attendants at a city morgue. Thinking entrepreneurially, Keaton (as the flakier half of the team) convinces a reluctant Winkler that they could kill two birds with one stone and use their quiet surroundings to start a call-girl business…. |
![Long Hot Summer [VHS]](http://www.ezeewp.com/send.php?i=aHR0cDovL2VjeC5pbWFnZXMtYW1hem9uLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvSS80MVdVM0MxMUhKTC5fU0wxNjBfLmpwZw%3D%3D) |
Long Hot Summer [VHS] $29.98 … |
 |
Kidde KN-COSM-B Battery-Operated Combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm with Talking Alarm $64.97 The Kidde KN-COSM-B Battery-Operated Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm combines two important safety devices into a single unit. This alarm includes a voice warning system that announces “Fire, Carbon Monoxide, Low Battery, or Smart Hush Activation.” The voice alarm eliminates any confusion and clearly warns you and your family of a smoke or carbon monoxide danger, or if your battery is in need of r… |
February 22, 2012 2:47 am 
Subscribe