Are you sure it's a bird? Sometimes people confuse frog sounds with bird sounds. Sure wish you could catch an audio of it. Or maybe it's a mockingbird who only knows one song? :)

A fox has quite a repertoire of sounds it makes.

tj

Speaking of frogs, I'm sitting here listening to tree frogs at night. One makes a short trill call and another one answers it sometimes. Is it possible that it's a Tree frog?

It's more than likely a bachelor mockingbird singing for a mate! Once paired, the midnight serenade will end. Mockingbirds are aptly named due to their ability to mimic any noise they hear that they find beautiful including other birds, and other creatures like bugs, frogs, even emergency vehicle sirens! A male mockingbird will continuously add to his song throughout his lifetime, and no two mockingbirds have the same call! The male we had this year repeated a cardinal call, a Carolina Wren, and a tree frog, and then multiple others I couldn't identify.. He probably sang for a month, then one night he was gone. I only looked it up because I Know a cardinal call and couldn't figure out why on earth a tree frog and a cardinal were talking to each other at midnight on my back deck!

But wouldn't a mockingbird have more than just one note?

Yes Catherinet, I misses that part of the original post! Although I wonder if a juvenile would have a short single call starting out? Since they build their own song over the years? You're probably right. Probably not a mockingbird if it's a single tone.

or maybe it's a very unimaginative mockingbird! ;)

Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer. I will let you know what my son says after he reads all of these.

There is a bird near me in Columbus, Ohio that sings after midnight very loudly an incredible repertoire of tunes, it's like a large playlist set to play at random shuffle changing every minute or two. Goes on for a long time, then stops... the starts again. Must be a Mockingbird? Comes each year to the same row of trees near a railroad track going through the city, at least for a few years. They are Bradford Pear unnatural abomination trees, not native trees.

So is this probably the same male bird that comes back to the same spot? Would offspring come back to the same location? Because he is always singing does that mean he is always alone? How many tunes can they remember? How many years?