The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
Seattle
This year's pre-dawn concert season began towards the end of April. The concerts commenced every morning about an hour before dawn. The program was similar each morning.
One robin would open with a question, Chirup??. A moment later he would repeat, Chirup?? Chirup??. Other robins would join in, one at a time, questioning, answering, elaborating their songs. Their combined voices would merge into a pulse, which appeared to be the cue for the house finches. The Chickadees would come in next, "feebeee." from the front yard. "feebeee." from the side yard. Back and forth. The starlings and the crows seemed to wait for the the right combination of backup voices before joining in with their big solo voices. Occasionally the voice of a wren or a song sparrow would ring out in a brief aria, just enough to make their presence known.
By mid June showtime was 3:30AM. I began mumbling about the "#$%ing robins", would swear at the crows as I stumbled out of the house in the morning, made "feebee" noises at the chickadees in the middle of the afternoon just for spite.
A week ago we returned from a 10 day trip. The next morning I woke up just before the morning cacaphony was scheduled to begin. Waited for a bit. The opening robin never showed up. A house finch made an attempt to start the concert, but many of the usual voices were either missing or really unenthusiastic. Only the crow kids seemed to relish their solos.
This morning I woke to silence. The early morning concert season appears to be over.
###
What's going on where you live? Remind us again where you live.