Bird Clocks With Sound

Singing Bird Clocks are fun, attractive and educational; a wonderful addition to the homes of bird-loving people. I have had one for years and it still works, chiming the sound of various species on the hour.

The birds that call on this clock are:

1. Summer Tanager 2. Song Sparrow 3. Purple Martin 4. American Goldfinch 5. Wood Thrush 6. Common Yellowthroat 7. Eastern Meadowlark 8. Carolina Wren 9. Eastern Bluebird 10. Red-winged Blackbird 11. Yellow Warbler 12. Hermit Thrush

The Audubon singing bird clock is a very charming wall clock for bird lovers and ornithologists which not only looks attractive, with twelve colorful birds decorating the face, but makes the appropriate bird calls on the hour, every hour; it's actually a really good way of getting familiar with the calls of these birds if you do not already know them.

I have one of these clocks and it is still functioning many years after purchasing it, hardly ever needing to replace the batteries, although setting the bird calls to the correct pictures when daylight savings comes into play can be difficult to remember how to do as it is something that is only done twice a year.

Ingeniously, the bird calls only sound when there is light available, due to a light sensor in the clock, so if you have the lights turned off and you are sleeping it will not wake you up every hour; this is not a bird call alarm clock, but a bird clock with sound.

This alternative bird call clock is the second of the bird clocks with sound available for purchase online.

Although it functions in exactly the same way as the clock featured above, this singing bird wall clock features a different set of American birds; quite nice to have this one in a different room if you have both versions. The species featured on this model are; Desert Cardinal, Field Sparrow, Common Ground Dove, Blue Jay, American Kestrel, Common Greenshank, Common Cuckoo, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Pygmy Owl, Whippoorwill, Downy Woodpecker.

All species call on the hour in hours when the clock is exposed to light. If you like sleeping with the curtains open just hang a towel over the clock to avoid being woken up as soon as it is light.

It is fairly obvious that bird song is our avian friends' way of communicating with each other but exactly how and why? Song uttered by birds, like this Hermit Thrush in the video clip above, is a way of announcing to other birds that they are here, both to attract a mate and to announce to rivals to keep away. During the breeding season it is usually male birds that do the singing (although females do sing in some species) to claim ownershop over a territory in order to deter other males from intruding and to lure in a female. It is also worth noting, however, that some species (notably the European Robin) sing in winter both to establish a breeding territory early and to defend a winter feeding territory.

The Complexity of Bird Song?
Bird can be complex although in some species it consists of only a few phrases but in most species it is the males that can sing the most complicated songs that are dominant in their ability to attract a mate. The reason for this is that it takes time and practice to master a complicated song and this indicates to a female that a male has longevity and experience - in other words a potentially experienced and capable mate.

Mimicry
A surprisingly large number of birds use mimicry in their song to increase the complexity of it and demonstrate that they are experienced and intelligent birds. Some species use almost entirely pieces of mimicry as their song; although it is not much of a song Common Starling is a great example of this. Birds such as Mynas and Parrots are well-known as good mimics but they are actually quite poor mimics compared to some song birds. In Europe I have heard Marsh Warblers that have songs composed almost entirely from the sounds of other birds including mimicked phrases from European Skylark, Blue Tit, White Wagtail, European Bee-eater, Common Quail, European Blackbird, Northern Lapwing, Linnet and many others - quite a symphony (see the following video clip to see this bird in action). In Asia a little-known bird, Spot-throated Babbler, is an incredible mimic, singing an incessant jumble of dozens of other bird songs - quite incredible to hear.

Can You Speak Bird?
It is not just birds that understand this song but humans too! Bird watchers recognize different species by their songs and calls which helps to find them and identify them. Of course birds do not only utter song but they have a variety of calls too some of which mean "intruder, take cover", "hello", "here I am" and other such phrases. Basically they have their own language and it is possible for humans to learn it and even to "speak" back to them; I regularly mimic bird sound to lure birds in when I am leading birding tours.

I have been leading bird watching tours since 2008 and have amassed a nice collection of photographs taken while leading the tours. Being able to recognize the song of thousands of species of bird is an essential tool in my job. Here are a few photographs I have taken, while on tours, of birds singing.

If you would like to join me on a birding tour you can see the list of upcoming trips to a variety of countries here - Birding Tours.