Crack-Smoking Birds

[thistlechaser]

Like the good little girl that I am, I logged off the MUSH at 11 PM and went to bed. Lights off at 12. Surprisingly, I fell asleep soon after (a rare and really nice thing). A short time later, I wake up. Birds are going crazy outside my window. Glance at the clock.

1:30 AM.

I listened more, and realized it was just one bird. One bird that apparently knows 5-6 "songs". It cycled through those songs, singing each for some number of seconds before going on to the next, just like a car alarm would.

Damned bird wouldn't shut up. It sang straight on through until I finally got up at 6:30. (I slept on and off between those two times.)

What the heck kind of bird sings in the middle of the night? The sun doesn't rise until about 6; 1:30 is *not* pre-dawn.

I hope female birds find this just as annoying as I did, and refuse to mate with him. No continuation for your genes, Mr. Bird!

Edited to add: Hit Google. Seems like it's probably a mockingbird. Someone made a post on a birding board, telling about a situation like mine. The replies:

It's probably a mockingbird. They are famous for singing in the middle of the night! Several people have said that last summer, they were really vocal.......driving them a little crazy at night!

Melodic and repeating in sets, same alternating tune over and over again might just be a Mockingbird. Very territorial, Mockers will sometimes sing at night and create quite a racket.

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I *think* that's the song of a mocking bird. Or, at least, I know of which bird you speak.

The bird learns snippets of sounds it hears around it and it's "song" are a short sampling of the melange of those. It's a kind of aural camoflouge because, in its random song cycling, it might hit on a song or sound which would scare off any would-be predators.
----
Have you considered taking any kind of natural sleep aid, like melatonin? Or, as I think I've suggested in the past, talking to your doctor about your inability to sleep well at night?

Hmm, another thought just occurred to me, which could possibly be sleep apnea. It is a partial or total obstruction of the airways during sleep, which causes fitful or restless sleeping (because you wake up when you can't breathe, even if you don't realize that's why), and often is accompanied by the symptom of snoring.

Edited to add:

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Hee! I made my comment before I saw your edit. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Funny, lots of people seemed to like this post. I got info and replies sent to me from every direction on it! Mockingbird is what has everyone's vote, yeah. If it wasn't annoying and waking me up, I'd think it was pretty cool to have one around.

On the sleeping meds end of things, sometimes I take one of those "PM" pain medicines (like Advil PM or something). Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was something like sleep apnea going on as well, or maybe just sinuses or something. If I take some sinus-clearing meds before bed, I tend to sleep better.

A lot of it is just stress/mental though. Sometimes I have a really hard time "powering down" my head and keeping everything offline so I can sleep.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

There's, like, exercises you can do to release tension and stuff.

My mom, after she had a heart attack, went to relaxation classes. Seriously.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Good thought! I've been half thinking about something like that. I need to poke around and see what classes are where...

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the world's problems could be solved most handily if we did have nighttime "power down" switches for our heads.

And I can commiserate with the mockingbird situation. Many's the time I've been tempted to yell out the window, "Shut UP, already... or at least change your playlist!"

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Many's the time I've been tempted to yell out the window, "Shut UP, already

Heehee. I thought about doing that last night, then figured a neighbor would throw a shoe at my head or something.