A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
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dawn chorus
The dawn chorus is the concentrated burst of birdsong that begins in the dark before sunrise and tails off within an hour or two of full light. It is loudest in spring, when males are holding territory and attracting mates, and it runs in a fairly consistent order. Robins, blackbirds, and thrushes with large eyes start earliest, and the smaller, later-rising species follow as the light comes up.
Etymology
The English term is plain description and is relatively recent, coming into general use with birdwatching as a popular pursuit in the twentieth century. Chorus is Greek by way of Latin and originally meant the group of dancers and singers who commented on the action in a play, so it carried the sense of many voices together long before it was applied to a wood at four in the morning.
Notes
Several explanations run together. Sound carries better in cool, still, damp air before the day’s convection starts, so a song at dawn reaches farther for the same effort. It is also too dark to forage and too dark for most predators to hunt a singing bird, so the time is otherwise low-value. International Dawn Chorus Day falls on the first Sunday in May.