Society finch singing in the middle of the night; why?

[Icearstorm]

Tacocat started singing in the middle of the night. It is dark, and he can see. Is he dreaming? Or just being weird?

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

My guys will occasionally do that as well.

I'll occasionally get a sleepy song out of one or two of them, or a dreamy meep beep out of a sleepy Zebra.

Of course my Red Throat Parrot Finch never sleeps. He trills throughout the night, and I'm sure everyone else really hates him for it, lol.

[MisterGribs]

Some birds are afraid of the dark, and some just have trouble falling asleep. Have you tried covering the cage with a dark cloth, or putting some low key rain sounds on for him to help him relax and fall asleep? If that seems to make the situation worse, you can try a night-glo 'moonlight' bulb for a night light. We use the exo-terra ones and our old lady finch loves them. No more night thrashing since we got one, but they burn out fast.

My coturnix rooster also had a bad night crowing problem, and nothing seemed to help him until I started crowing back. After a while, he was more confident that someone was with him and now he sleeps soundly. Maybe you could try simply responding for a while, if changing the low light doesn't help.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

One of my previous of society finches occasionally sang an hour or two before light, and a few sing right after the lights turn off. It's good to know this isn't too unusual.

[Icearstorm]

MisterGribs

So far this was a one-time thing, but I'll be sure to try those if he does it again. I wouldn't have thought about the background noise, but I can see how that could help. He settled down shortly after I turned on the fan, so that could have had something to do with it.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs Icearstorm

With my guys, it's not a panicked or frightened call, it's just sleepy bird sounds, which I've always put it down as being similar to people talking in their sleep.

I have a small night light for them, that automatically kicks in when the amount of light drops offering a warm golden glow. Also there is a light post on the street next to the yard, which brings in some muted light through the window.