[marklacey]

I spent two summers in an apartment in San Francisco that was near the nest of what I assume was a nightingale.

Every night around midnight it would start singing. It would loop through maybe 8 songs. Some of them sounded very much like the local environment. For example one song was pretty much identical to sirens that I would periodically hear.

It would last for an hour or two each night. I don’t know where the bird went the rest of the year. That was almost ten years ago and I still miss falling asleep to that.

[gloftus]

We have those in Boston, I always thought they were mockingbirds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhiyxmWI95Q

[marklacey]

Yes you’re right. Judging by Wikipedia it seems likely it was a northern mockingbird.

[Cerium]

In San Jose we have birds that imitate car alarms. I don't like them at all.

[NamTaf]

The Lyrebird from Australia is probably the best at this. It can imitate just about anything - car alarms, other birdsongs, camera shutters, gunshots, etc. etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSB71jNq-yQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrebird#Vocalizations_and_mim...

[mcv]

Ages ago, probably during the age of Nokia phones, I heard about some birds (blackbirds I think) adopting popular Nokia ringtones as their call.

[smileypete]

>In San Jose we have birds that imitate car alarms. I don't like them at all.

There's also the 'mower bird' (male ruffled grouse)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0obByQW23k

[marklacey]

Yes that’s one thing this bird would do. The whole cycle of two or three repetitive sounds from an alarm before moving to another song.

[adammunich]

Really, I need to hear this!