Donal Hickey: My backyard musician kicks off at 3am but he's a total pro and sounds great

He's a song thrush who looks good too and should have no bother with courtship

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) smashing snails on a rock — the song thrush is also a prolific breeder and can have two or three broods in a season

It’s a bit early yet for the dawn chorus and there’s a lesser symphony of birdsong these days. The song thrush has been at it since January and the one that I'm familiar with has a perch atop a fairly tall tree nearby. 

He seems to come every year to the same tree — his call the dominant one, well above his fellows, the blackbird (his first cousin) and the robin.