What bird sings at night in Florida?

In Florida, a bird singing a long string of varied, borrowed phrases after dark is almost always a Northern Mockingbird, which regularly sings at night in the nesting season. A loud, rattling wail from a marsh, lake shore or swamp at night or at dawn is a Limpkin. A low chuck and a whistled will's-widow repeated from shady woods on summer nights is a Chuck-will's-widow, and eight barking hoots that sometimes break into cackles are Barred Owls.

Listen: the Northern Mockingbird

If the night singer keeps changing its tune, it is a mockingbird. Audubon describes the song as a long series of phrases, some musical and some grating, each repeated three or more times, with frequent imitations of other birds. The male sings to defend a territory and attract a mate, and during the nesting season he can be heard all day and often all night as well. Audubon says plainly that the species regularly sings at night.

Mockingbirds are very common in towns and cities, especially in southern areas, and they favor dense low shrubs next to open ground: yards, farms, roadsides, thickets and brushy lots. Nesting starts early in the South, by late winter, so in Florida the nesting-season singing, night shift included, gets going early. The call, when one is annoyed with you, is a harsh chack.

The Limpkin: the wail from the marsh

If the sound is less a song than a cry, and it comes from water, it is very likely a Limpkin. The National Park Service at Everglades National Park says the bird is more often heard than seen, and that it calls most at dawn, at dusk and during the night, with a loud, rattling wail or scream. One painting on the park's page is titled The Night Screamer in the Everglades, which about sums it up. In parks and refuges Limpkins may also be active, and noisy, by day.

In Florida the Limpkin lives in swamps and marshes, and the state marks the northern edge of its breeding range, which runs south through Mexico and the Caribbean into Central and South America. It feeds almost entirely on apple snails, with mussels and other snails as backup, and when snails run short it turns to insects, frogs, lizards, crustaceans and worms. Its halting walk, which looks lame, gave it the name. For the other screamers of the dark, see What bird screams at night?.

Chuck-will's-widow: the chant from the woods

One phrase, repeated over and over from the woods, is a nightjar. Audubon describes the Chuck-will's-widow's rich, throaty chant of its own name echoing through southern woodlands on summer nights, with a deep, low chuck followed by a mellow whistle. It breeds in shady southern woods of several kinds, including open pine forest, oak woodland and the edges of swamps. By day it rests on a horizontal limb or on the ground and is almost never noticed.

Summer is the season, but Florida gets a bonus: some Chuck-will's-widows spend the winter in the state, while most fly on to the West Indies, Mexico, Central America and northern South America. The bird builds no nest at all; the eggs go on dead leaves or pine needles on the forest floor, and the same site may be used again in a later year.

Barred Owls: hoots and cackles from the swamp

Barred Owls live throughout Florida, and Florida is where their peak season opens: calling peaks from late January in Florida to early April in Canada. They call most between 6 pm and 6 am and least in mid-afternoon. Besides the eight-note hooting, pairs produce cackles, caws and gurgles that observers have described as cat-like screams and sudden demonic laughter, and young birds beg with high, scratchy screeches. The female's voice is higher, with longer final notes, so a duet tells you there are two. Look for them in bottomland hardwood forest and swampy, wooded ground near water, though leafy suburbs suit them too. Their calls can carry well over half a mile.

How to tell which one you heard

• A medley from a hedge, roof or wire: Northern Mockingbird, heaviest from late winter through the nesting season, in towns and yards.
• A rattling wail from a marsh, lake or swamp: Limpkin, most often at dawn, dusk and night.
• One phrase, the bird's own name, from shady woods: Chuck-will's-widow, on summer nights, with a few birds staying through winter.
• Eight hoots, or hoots that break into cackling: Barred Owl, swampy woods and big-tree suburbs, peaking from late January.

A Florida night can hold all four at once, plus frogs. If you want names, Warble can listen to a clear recording and sort out the birds; it listens for birds only, so a loud frog chorus may leave it less to work with.

Questions people ask

Warble is a game, not a field guide. Facts about birds on this page come from the sources above.