Learn English – Looking for a word to describe the sound of the morning as hundreds of birds begin singing before sunrise

word-choice

This time of year hundreds of birds come to the mountains. Before the sunrise they begin to awaken, as they do, they begin to sing their various songs. All together they sound like a boisterous cacophony, but soon you hear their individual sounds and it becomes a symphony of beauty and awe.

I suppose there is no one word to describe such a beautiful scene and I'll have to write a paragraph to describe this most inspiring of God's creative wonders.

Best Answer

It's usually called the...

dawn chorus
the singing of birds together just before dawn - Cambridge Dictionary

I have the impression this usage is more common in BrE than AmE - I don't know of any widespread AmE alternative, but I stand to be corrected on that. And I don't know any equivalent term for deafening birdsong in the evening (which I suspect in my area is exacerbated by all-night street lights; the birds never just shut up and go to sleep).


EDIT: Prompted by T.E.D.'s comment below, I just checked out this NGram...

Ngram showing significantly more use in British English then American English

...which clearly shows that - as I suspected - the usage is significantly more common in BrE. But I still don't know any AmE equivalent / alternative.

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