These poor birds have a messed up circadian rhythm (er, likely no rhythm). Unlike songbirds of the Northeast which predictably wake up around 4 AM every spring/summer morning, the birds of the ATL start chirping when I go to bed (1230 AM)! I guess it’s no surprise given the light pollution emitted by 6 million people. Here’s the view from our balcony. For the non circadian biologists, you may be surprised to learn that the integration of light within the classic circuitry between the retina and SCN  is different in birds compared with mammals. It’s pretty easy to see these differences

 in the schematic below: