I was awakened this morning at 4:20 a.m. Not by my dog needing to answer nature's call, which happens from time to time, mostly depending on her diet the following day.No-Journey was peacefully sleeping, softly snoring ,taking up a bit more space on my bed than makes me comfortable.
There was a bird perched on a branch of a tree outside my bedroom window, making a joyful noise--non-stop, every three or four seconds a three-bar melody until 6:20.
Since I was up--not before the birds but certainly with this particular bird with not much to do at that hour, I went on to the Environment Canada website and learned our sunrise is at 6:20 a.m. at this time of year . . . so this bird seems to have the pre-dawn shift.
I also wanted to find out if my hunch was right. Which species of bird was my new best friend? I went onto some bird sites and found out there is something referred to as the 'dawn chorus' (who but those of us who've been awakened by them would have known?!).
This Dawn Chorus begins an hour or so before sunrise and can continue for an hour afterwards. It can be heard from March through to July and is at its peak in May (can't wait for the peak!).
Birds such as the Song Thrush, Blackbird and Robin start to sing earlier in the chorus than smaller, insect-eating birds. In the darkness, the conditions help good sound quality. Nothing worse than being awakened by bad sound quality!!
So I was narrowing the field (or flock) down - - it could be either the Song Thrush, Blackbird or Robin, My bushel of birdseed was on the Robin. There are so many of them in my neighbourhood.
Thanks to this great site of Robin vocalizations, after familiarizing myself with all three of the birds' songs, I won the bet!
Seems this 'song' differs from the 'continuous song'. This one is a territorial pre-dawn melody.
I'd like to continue with my pre-dawn territorial melody . . . it's commonly referred to as snoring!!
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