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From: al@gtx.com (Alan Filipski)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Early birds
Message-ID: <1385@gtx.com>
Date: 31 Oct 90 22:04:17 GMT
References: <5589@monu1.cc.monash.oz>
Reply-To: al@gtx.UUCP (Alan Filipski)
Organization: GTX Corporation, Phoenix
Lines: 28

In article <5589@monu1.cc.monash.oz> eln314m@monu1.cc.monash.oz (ms  ml   hong) writes:
>I am not sure whether anyone of you have had such encounters but recently, I
>discovered that birds would start to sing and chirp as early as three hours
>before dawn! They are definitely not owls and would gather in flocks on the   
  . . .
>Is it normal for birds (excluding nocturnal ones) to be active so early in the
>day? Has it something to do with the geographical location (I am living in 
>Melbourne, Australia)?

I have heard mockingbirds singing at all hours of the day and night,
including midnight to 3 AM, but they seem to be usually solitary or in
pairs.  I love listening to mockingbird song, it is far more varied
than other bird song, and includes many different patterns.

Their behavior is unusual, too. I have seen them dive-bombing a cat
walking along the top of a fence.  They like to tease it and stay just
out of its reach, making the cat very angry.

The ones I have seen are medium sized and grey with dark bars on the
underside of the wings.  I don't know if their habitat includes
Australia.



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 ( Alan Filipski, GTX Corp, 8836 N. 23rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85021, USA )
 ( {decvax,hplabs,uunet!amdahl,nsc}!sun!sunburn!gtx!al         (602)870-1696 )
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