Why blackbirds sing at night

Yet they will continue to sing until the summer when other birds have ceased. You sometimes hear them as late as July, often after it has rained. The blackbird hour, when the hedgerows thrill with song. Wild daffodils light the under-storey of the roadside hedge.

Photo by Gerald A. Read our newsletter! Sign Up for Free. The blue beauties prefer wide-open spaces, nest boxes, and the occasional mealworm. Stay in touch with BirdWatching Keep up to date on all the latest birding news and info. Sign Up for Our Free Newsletter! This includes street lamps and building illumination. However, these analyses only concern individual species. Her preliminary research in the area of the Upper Nurzec Valley Podlasie shows that approx.

These include nightingale, cuckoo, grasshopper warbler, sedge warbler and whinchat. She therefore suggests there may be other reasons for the phenomenon in places where the main source of night light is the Moon. These will be both forest and open areas. In addition, a light intensity recorder will be placed at each spot. Why urban blackbirds sometimes sing at night has been explored in experiments.

Exposure to light affects their levels of melatonin and perception of length of day, and thus their biological rhythms. One study, using light loggers carried on individual birds, showed that, in March, when reproductive growth occurs, urban blackbirds reached maturity 19 days earlier than rural birds. Light pollution, affecting perception of day length, could be the cause. Does light pollution alter day-length?

Royal Society B. How much of all this has become genetic, heritable and part of evolution? Historically, blackbirds were birds of the forest and their urbanisation was first recorded in Germany in Do they find the modern city stressful? American researchers hand-raised urban and forest-living European blackbirds and found that city-born blackbirds have a lower corticosterone stress response than their woodland cousins.

Including, presumably, humans. Stress and the city: urbanization and its effects on the stress physiology in European blackbirds , Ecology , August The Crossword Club provides access to an archive of more than 6, interactive crosswords from The Irish Times. Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription.

Another Life: Sex, the city and blackbirds singing in the dead of night How urban blackbirds differ from their country cousins Sat, Jan 28, , Michael Viney. Do blackbirds find the modern city stressful? Illustration: Michael Viney.