What bird sings at night in Texas?

In Texas, a bird singing one borrowed song after another in the middle of the night is almost always a Northern Mockingbird, and specifically an unmated male; mockingbirds live statewide all year, from desert to city. From March to October, a loud, crisp chant of its own name from the woods at twilight is a Chuck-will's-widow, which breeds mostly in the eastern part of the state. A nasal peent over town at dusk is a Common Nighthawk, and hoots, whinnies and screams come from owls.

Listen: the Northern Mockingbird

If the singer seems to be doing impressions, you have your answer. Texas Parks and Wildlife says unmated male mockingbirds sing more than mated ones, and that only the unmated males sing at night. So the bird keeping you awake is a bachelor, and he has a reason to work hard: female mockingbirds are attracted to the males with the largest variety of sounds, and a male can mimic around 50 other birds. During the breeding season the singing and displaying are nearly constant, and in fall both males and females sing to claim winter feeding territories, so you can hear them in more than one season.

Where you are in the state hardly matters. Mockingbirds live year-round across Texas, and they are one of the few birds found in every kind of habitat, from desert to forest to city. A night singer in a city yard, at a forest edge or out in desert brush is a mockingbird until proven otherwise.

Chuck-will's-widow: the warm-month chant

If the night sound is one phrase rather than a medley, and it comes from trees rather than a hedge, think nightjar. Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine calls the Chuck-will's-widow a harbinger of twilight, seldom seen but often heard throughout most of Texas, a bird that shouts its name every evening in a crisp, loud cry. It is here from March until October, then heads for the tropics, wintering anywhere from the Texas Gulf Coast to South America.

It breeds mostly in the eastern part of the state but reaches west to the Edwards Plateau and north to the eastern Panhandle, living in pine and oak woodlands. It is a foot-long bird patterned brown with black spots and streaks, like the woods it lives in, and pairs croak if disturbed during the day. There is no nest: the female lays two to four eggs on bare ground in April and sits on them for about 20 days.

Common Nighthawk: a peent over town at dusk

The Common Nighthawk is a twilight bird more than a midnight one, active by day and at dawn and dusk, but its nasal peent is part of a Texas summer evening. The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas finds it throughout the state in open country, open fields and towns, where it nests on flat gravel roofs and avoids aluminum ones. Migrants pass through from early April to late May, and eggs have been found from late March to late July. It is often called the bullbat, for the male's courtship dive: air rushing through his wings at the bottom makes a booming noise like a bellowing bull. Along the Rio Grande from Terrell County to Starr County, the Lesser Nighthawk takes its place.

The owls

Hoots, whinnies and screams belong to owls. The Houston Arboretum lists four for Houston and southeast Texas. The Eastern Screech-Owl is the smallest owl in the state, strictly a bird of the night, at home anywhere from wooded lots to urban gardens. The Great Horned Owl gives a deep series of three to eight hoots, is active at dusk and sometimes by day, and lays its eggs in winter. The Barred Owl calls eight or more drawn-out hoots from swamps and riverside forest, and pairs break into loud, excited duets. The Barn Owl, rare to uncommon around Houston, gives a harsh, hissing screech from buildings near pastures and farm clearings, and it can nest in any month.

How to tell which one you heard

• A medley of different songs, deep into the night: Northern Mockingbird, anywhere in Texas, in any habitat.
• One phrase, the bird's own name, from the woods: Chuck-will's-widow, March to October, mostly in the eastern half of the state and west to the Edwards Plateau.
• A nasal peent from overhead around dusk: Common Nighthawk, from April into summer, over towns and open country. On the Rio Grande, the Lesser Nighthawk.
• Hoots, a whinny or a screech: an owl. Count the hoots, listen for a whinny, and note whether the sound is harsh.

If you want a name rather than a hunch, Warble can listen from the porch and tell you, though a mockingbird in the middle of its impressions can make any listener, human or app, hesitate for a phrase or two.

Questions people ask

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