11 Birds That Sing At Night  

Birds are unique members of nature. We are primarily familiar with diurnal bird species and their morning sounds. However, some birds are vocal at night, even when they are not nocturnal. These sounds can be scary and eerie to unaware people. 

For example, northern mockingbirds sing often at night but are not nocturnal. Here, we will discuss 13 birds that sing in the dark all year round. We will address their habitats, geographic locations, and the sounds they make. 

Bird Songs: 11 Birds That Sing At Night

Here are the quick links to the birds that can soothe you to sleep with their melodious tune:

1. Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)

The common nightingale is in various regions worldwide, but you’ll mostly find this type of bird in central and south Europe and Central Asia. Common Nightingales prefer mild and warm climate regions.

They live in dense and low-growth areas, woodlands with young trees, and regions with coppiced trees. Members of this bird species are solitary. They only come together during the breeding season. 

Common nightingales sing two types of bird songs: whistle and non-whistle songs. The male bird sings whistle notes mainly during the breeding season to attract female birds. A male nightingale sings 50% of the night, hoping to find a mate. Something unique and funny happens to male nightingales as they sing at night.

They lose weight every night they sing. Naturally, they are not nocturnal birds. They are awake during the day, foraging for food. However, scientists believe the night singers forage for food during the day to build their fat reserves. 

Singing at night also offers protection from predators, except their primary predator, tawny owls. Common nightingale birds reduce the duration and volume of their songs at night when they are actively not attracting mates to reduce their chances of predation. 

2. Eastern Whip-Poor-Will (Antrostomus vociferus)

The Eastern Whip-poor-will is a medium-sized bird with a large head and stout chest. Its gray and brown plumage offers almost perfect camouflage near tree bark and leaf litter. 

Eastern whip-poor-will species are nocturnal birds. They rest on the grounds, perch on low trees, and sing at night. They also fly around foraging for insects. You will find eastern whip-poor-will birds in open deciduous or mixed woods in the southeastern United States and central and southeastern Canada.

These birds sing at night because they are nocturnal. Eastern Whip-poor-will got its name from its song Whip-poor-will. They start singing loudly and continuously as night falls in spring and summer.

3. Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens)

The yellow-breasted chat is next on our list of birds that sing at night. The yellow-breasted chats are small songbirds with long tails, large heads, and thick bills. They are larger than a yellow warbler and smaller than an American robin. 

Although sightings of the yellow-breasted bird are rare despite its colorful plumage, their loud calls are often heard from the skies during migration. These birds prefer to forage in low, thick bushes and dense areas with regrowing greenery like clearcuts, powerline corridors, streamside shrubs, and bramble bushes.

Yellow-breasted chats sing extensively and loudly. They have a series of widely spaced whistles, croaks, and short, repeated phrases. Audubon refers to yellow-breasted chat songs as chips, rattles, and whistles. 

Sometimes, chats perform mid-flight while singing. This performance includes a series of awkward flopping and dangling legs, almost as if the bird is dancing to its song.

4. Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Black-crowned night herons are nocturnal birds. They are medium-sized birds with stout birds with black crowns and back, gray wings, and red eyes. These species have a studier build compared to other heron species. They weigh between 727 and 1014 g.

These types of herons prefer various wetland habitats, including marshes, rivers, mud flats, swamps, tidal flats, and rice fields. They are native to California, New England, eastern Canada, Florida, and other parts of northern America. 

Since they are nocturnal, they start singing at dusk. During the mating season, male herons perform a song and dance display to attract females. Researchers call the sounds they make croaks or quacks. They are a series of flat and straightforward calls used to communicate among the birds.

5. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

The next bird on our list is the northern mockingbird. Northern mockingbirds make the most sound at night. They have a series of varying call patterns. Northern mockingbirds’ songs are complex, flat, falling, rising, and undulating. These birds chirp, chatter, whistle, and scream. They repeatedly sing, often imitating other birds and environmental sounds like car alarms and creaky gates.

The northern mockingbird is a small bird, about 23 cm long, with a slim, long tail. It has gray-brownish plumage, white outer feather tails, and white wing patches. An unpaired male northern mockingbird can sing from early dawn to night, especially during a full moon in the mating season. 

You can see them in canyons, suburban areas, parks, shrublands, meadows, woodlands, thickets, and forests. You can also see a mockingbird perched in your backyard and other urban areas. 

6. Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

The upland sandpiper is a shorebird with unusual proportions: it has long legs, a long and thin neck, a large eye, a small head, and a thin bill. Unlike other shorebirds, the upland sandpiper prefers grasslands. It is a terrestrial shorebird, so you can’t find it in coastal and wetland regions.

Upland sandpiper birds are not naturally nocturnal like owls but often migrate in groups at night. It is during migration seasons you hear the birds singing. They migrate through the Great Plains in spring and fall. They communicate through thrills and whistles in a flat and rising pattern. 

This species spends winter in South America, in their preferred habitats like open meadows, fields, and grassy prairies. They like perching on fence posts or telephone poles. You’re likelier to hear them often during the mating season.

7. Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Our list of birds that sing at night includes the barred owl. This owl species has a round head, dark eyes, and brown and white plumage. It has a rounded, short, and square-shaped wing. Also, barred owls do not have ear-tufts like other owls. 

The bird sings a sound often rephrased as “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you, all? The owl’s hooting has a complex, falling, and undulating pattern. It also sings a variety of other barking, nestling, ascending hoot, and caterwauling calls when fighting prey and during mating duets.  

Barred owls are native to southern Canada, Florida, and North America. They prefer habitats like woodlands, wooded swamps, and wooded river bottoms because they have dense, thick woods in low-lying areas.

8. Chuck-Will’s-Widow (Antrostomus carolinensis)

Chuck-will' s-widow species are nocturnal and daytime birds. They are the largest nightjar species, foraging for insects at dawn and dusk. They are swift fliers with a unique feature that helps them funnel insects into their mouths: rictal brittles, which they use to eat insects.

Chuck-will' s-widow sighting is rare, but researchers and bird watchers recognize its sound. The bird sings in a flat, undulating pattern, croaking, hooting, odd, and whistling. Females don’t sing, but the male birds can be heard singing 16 to 30 times per minute from their perch.

They sing through the courtship period of the mating season and stop during the nesting period. They also sing before the fall migration. Chuck-will’s-widow starts singing at dusk. Their songs might last longer during warmer summer nights. 

These birds are native to the southeastern United States. They prefer woodlands, deciduous forests, and pine forests with open areas and edges. During migration, they hang out with eastern whip-poor-wills and in other habitats.

9. Eurasian Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

Eurasian nightjars are another species of bird heard singing at night. They communicate with each other using many sounds. The male birds repeatedly use churring vocalizations that last for 10 minutes. They also make a burbling thrill sound when approaching the nesting area.

Male and female Eurasian nightjars communicate by qoik-qoik calls. They also make grunting wuffs when they are in the nest and hiss when they are agitated. The male birds sing a unique song. 

These birds prefer various habitats, such as moors, boreal forests, wetlands, orchards, and conifer stands. They don't like areas with dense forests and high mountains; they want open or light-forested areas with less daytime disturbance.

10. Great Potoo (Nyctibius grandis)

The great potoo is native to Central America. It is easily recognizable with its large head, large eyes, and short, broad beak. The birds live in forests and rainforests but occasionally venture to the first edge and farmlands. 

They have a white-grayish plumage with touches of black and burgundy. This solitary species only leaves its home while hunting in the dark. They communicate with sounds like frog-like baaaao and an eerie whoap. These sounds stop other great potoos from entering another bird’s territory.

People who aren’t used to the sounds of the great potoo can become startled the first time they hear it. The great bird becomes active in the summer evenings and goes to rest at dawn. At night, it mostly hunts for small mammals and giant insects. 

11. Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis)

The last bird that sings at night in this list is the black rail which is a tiny marsh bird, about the same size as the European robin in Europe and North Africa. It is gray-black with white spots, a black crown, and chestnut coloring at the back of its neck. It also has ruby-red eyes and a black bill. 

Researchers have rarely seen black rail fly. It runs or walks through the marshes. Black rail is an elusive bird. You can recognize it by its flat falling sounds. It chirps, rattles, and whistles in a lower pitch. The species prefers to live in wet meadows and shallow freshwater marshes.

Conclusion  

Most other birds sing at dawn and in the afternoon. However, some of them only start singing when the last rays of sunlight disappear and the night approaches. Other birds don’t sing during the day because of light pollution common to the Middle East, South America, and Central Asia. 

All the lights we have on at night confuse daytime birds' internal clocks. Noise pollution also plays a role. It stops diurnal birds from singing during the day until it is dark and quiet.