Most usually people talk about the dawn chorus at midsummer – that’s when events to experience it seem to be organised. It is the case that the midsummer dawn chorus is the longest and loudest. However, you also need to be awake by four in the morning here in the UK, and that’s not easy, nor is it practical for some of us.
There is always a dawn chorus. In winter it’s brief, but even so I usually hear something. However, now in early spring is a great time for encountering and appreciating dawn bird song. Firstly it’s often warm enough to have the windows open a bit at night. If there are any trees in your vicinity, there’s a fair chance of birdsong, and of being able to lie in bed and hear it. Otherwise, it means being out at about six am, which is a good deal more feasible.
The dawn chorus usually starts ahead of the dawn – there’s always some light before the sun is properly up, but the singing can start while it’s still dark. It begins usually with one voice – I think most normally a blackbird where I am. One bird who decides that even though it’s dark, the sun is coming. Or perhaps one bird who decides that it is time to sing the sun back into the world. Perhaps human habits of calling the sun up come from bird songs. Gradually other voices come in, the light increases, and then the bird song diffuses into the more intermittent calling of getting on with the day.
The image I’ve used isn’t of songbirds but of crows. I happen to like the more discordant voices alongside the sweet ones. Corvids, geese, ducks, and pheasants – and all the rest not reputed for signing.