Night singing bird in Maryland woods (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

We have a puzzler here. My wife and I moved recently to our new home in Harford County, MD where we are completely surrounded by woods, most of it second growth, with a sizeable stream nearby and about an acre of clearing. Both of us have been avid birders for many years but we have been completely stumped by the bird that sings in the night.

Up until now, I had thought the only night singing bird around these parts was a Mockingbird. When we lived in the city, the un-paired males would be going all night. Out here, we haven't seen any mocking thrushes at all and, in any case, the bird we're hearing is quite different from any mocker.

We've heard the song at times from dusk to 2:00-3:00 in the morning. It usually sings once and then shuts up. The song starts with an Ovenbird-like "teacher-teacher-teacher" (though much more softly) then goes into a jumble of whispery notes and ends with a "quit quit" similar to the alarm call of a Wood Thrush. The times we've heard it close by, it seemed to be on or near the ground. One evening last week while we were out walking at dusk, we saw two small, brown birds chasing across the lane and as they disappeared into the undergrowth, we heard the song of the night bird.

Any idea at all what this might be?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

American robins will sometimes sing at all hours of the night, and especially at dusk and dawn. They're pretty brownish looking when on the ground where the orange breast isn't as visible. I wish I were more familiar with eastern thrushes, so I'm afraid I'm no help there, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly who can.

You might want to check out cornell.edu's Lab of Ornithology site where they have libraries of bird calls/songs. Perhaps you'll hear your bird there.

And welcome to BirdForum!

You can trust your ears Mark, Ovenbirds will often sing in the middle of the night, usually in short bursts. The whispery notes means it was close enough for you to hear it's entire song. Enjoy.

Hmmm. Ovenbird? They've been singing pretty much from sun-up to sun-down here for the same period we've been noticing the "night bird". Maybe they tone it down for their nocturnal chanson 'cuz they are really loud during the day!

UPDATE: Okay -- I've done some searching around on "Ovenbird flight song" and read a few descriptions that lead me to believe we have a winner. Can anyone suggest a place I might find a recording of the song on-line?

Thanks again!