Most mornings I awaken to the territorial song of a whip-poor-will. Wait a minute! you might say, if you have some familiarity with this bird. The whip-poor-will rarely performs its namesake song outside the spring mating season. And hey… (you may add suspiciously) whip-poor-wills winter along the Gulf of Mexico and in Central America. They’re hundreds of miles from your frigid Minnesota home in winter! What’s the story, Petersen? The truth is, I cheat. My whip-poor-will waker-upper comes from an alarm clock.

During the spring breeding season, local wild birds often make my electronic whip-poor-will redundant. Thanks to its high latitude, Minnesota’s June sunrises take place as early as 5:30 a.m. Humans may have allied dawn and birdsong, but birds don’t seem to consider this such a firm contract. More than two-dozen songbird species nest in our neighborhood, and many appear to consider it slothful to wait until sunrise before singing. Some start as early as 4:00 a.m.

In the heart of winter I miss that avian chorus, however inconvenient its timing. Some birds remain here year-round, to be sure. Last year my son’s kindergarten class studied winter birds. Over dinner one evening,