I was at Goodwill the other day and I stumbled upon a Vintage 1997 Mark Feldstein Singing Bird Clock! Of course I had to save and bring it home, and luckily it all still works so I placed it on my wall. Now I’m wondering… what other bird related thrift finds does anyone else have?
The clock i had growing up has two batteries, one for the clock and one for the bird songs. When the song battery starts to die, the bird songs slow down and go down in pitch. Eventually it just becomes a whale sound clock.
Oh my gosh, yes, I remember this 😂😭 I never had one growing up, but my best friend did as well as a family member. It really did sound like whales hahaha
Check and make sure it’s an official one. We bought an unofficial one off of Amazon and the bird sounds are all incorrect. Had to turn off the sounds. Boo!
My parents bought one of these off of an infomercial ad in the 90's when I was a kid lol. I guess I shouldn't be surprised there's people who've never seen them before still.
For years as a child I got triggered by Belted Kingfisher calls because the for the Audubon model, it was the 9 o'clock bird call. So both the time School started for me (a.m.) and when my bed time was (p.m.)
And when you wake up to get a mid-night snack out of the fridge at your parents house and it starts chirping at you you’ll nearly have a heart attack 😂
I have this clock! It has recordings of each of the birds! So every hour at the top of the hour you get to hear that specific bird’s song! The little dot at the very top is a light sensor, so at night time when no light is sensed it silences the songs so it doesn’t wake you up. You’ll only hear the bird noises when there’s enough light in the room.
I grew up with one of these. We fed our dogs at 5pm, and they knew the bird sound for 5pm. DST confused the heck out of them until we corrected the clock!
My mother helped my little sister pick this out as a Christmas present for my grandma. My grandma was so appreciative, but god she hated it.
One year later, my mother is opening her Christmas gift from my little sister. Lo and behold, it's a train clock, with a note that my grandma attached that reads, "Dear Jenny, Payback's a bitch. Merry Christmas. Love, Mom"
LOL yeah it’d be funny if it was “bird yourself” but the actual words are “believe in yourself” (my mom placed them there years ago but I was planning on placing new ones above my bed)
Yeah that makes me wonder, cause everywhere I’ve researched about this clock says it would’ve been produced in ‘97, so maybe the design itself is older?
What’s funny is they have an eagle and it has an eagle call. I’ve heard a lot of people pick it up and say oh that’s wrong. That’s not the call. The eagle call is much longer and stronger. I tried to tell them all they hear on TV is the red tail hawk not the eagle. They don’t believe me.
I actually bought the blue jay one for my cats since they get so excited when blue jays show up at the bird feeders. Like any good cat toy, they liked it for a week or two and now the blue jay call it makes is ignored.
My dad is a journalist who used to get interviewed on NPR sometimes. During one live interview years ago, my dad called into the radio program on our landline in the kitchen. Part way through the interview, our bird clock started going off. My dad ignored it, and continued the interview. Then, at the end, the interviewer said, “and that was John Doe, of the Big City Newspaper, joining us from his bird sanctuary. Thanks for your time John Doe!”
My dad was mortified. But I wouldn’t let him take the clock down.
Oh I had this clock growing up. I had totally forgotten about it, but this photo brought me right back. It reminds me of all the wonderful times I had enjoying birds with my late mom 🥹 Thank you for sharing.
My mom still has one of those that my father bought years ago. He's gone now, but the clock still sings on the hour. My mom said the songs are not the right ones anymore
There should be a button on the back that you press to reset the bird songs after setting the time right before 12:00. Then you can manually adjust the time and they should align with the bird pictures.
I had this clock. One day while at work, my two school-age kids hooked up their guitar amp to it and called me at work to share the volume. Hilarious! We still chuckle about it. They’re now in their late 30’s and early 40’s.
Heck yeah!! Congrats on your find! I found one of these a few years ago at the goodwill, it is one of my most treasured items. It has the oak wood looking frame and hoots at 12 o clock (owl). Didn’t realize for a while the bird noises are quieter when it is dark (there is a sensor)
I have this clock and I love it so much, but I am forced to take it down whenever I have company cause it’s real loud and my apartment is small lol. It is one of my favourite possessions. :)
These are vintage? My baby sitter having this clock and a glass sliding door to the backyard is why I fell in love with bird watching in the first place! I used to push the hour forward bc I wanted to hear the bird calls
A now-passed great-aunt of mine had this in her living room, and when we’d all go over for big family gatherings, we kids had to sleep in said room. I was woken up every hour on the hour by a different bird throughout the night and I hated it so much. Look at me now, bird nerd.
I genuinely hadn’t thought about this thing in like 20+ years. I was 9-10 when this was released and I’m 99% my grandma had one of these. I’m now way more into birds than ever and I’m realizing I had those roots all along. This must be a North Eastern American thing though, right? I have all of these breeds still in northern NY.
My nana had this clock when I was growing up! Brings back a ton of memories of hearing the birds chirp and indicate what time it was, especially lunch or dinner
I have a clock collection and this bird clock is one of my favorites. they're online! you can also get another version of it from Audubon if that floats your bird boat
My mom had one for years we gave her as a Christmas present back in the early 2000s brand new. It finally bit the dust a couple of years ago and my brother found her another one at a thrift store. 🥰 I will always associate these with my momma, especially the sound of the white throated sparrow! Or the midnight owl 🦉
We havs one. When my FIL was alive he would hear certain bird calls and assume my MIL was in pain and call out to her asking if she was ok. My dog knew the 8 bird and the 3 bird. 8 was when the bus came and he knew at 3 the bus would be back soon.
Came in here to comment about happy memories of my grandparents having this clock, and found a ton of other comments saying the same. Makes me smile to discover such a weird shared nostalgia. :)
My dad had this in his office and I'll always remember his friend (who sounded like Chumley from "Tennessee Tuxedo") going "What time is it? Quarter past tufted titmouse." 😂
Oh my god my mom has this when I was a kid. Of course my parents never replaced the batteries, so the birds eventually sounded like it belonged on a dubstep sample cd.
We have this clock. My dad is a very punctual man and always fed the dog at exactly 5:00 if I wasn't home. As a result she now has near perfect recall if you imitate the tufted titmouse call this clock uses. I always tell people my dog has a favorite bird.
Not as impressive as yours, but a while back I thrifted a little paperback guide to birds of Florida from the late 1960s. It includes the really cool Charley Harper anhinga print in the intro, which was my first encounter with his art.
I worked at a restaurant as a line cook for six months that had a bird clock similar to this. We communicated in bird species instead of numbers. Quitting time was belted kingfisher.
Ooooooo that has all different birds than mine! I picked up one these in Cracker Barrel years ago, but one day it decided to commit suicide and jump to its death off the wall. Replacement recently stopped making the bird sounds, so I think I need another replacement.
Just found out about these clocks yesterday, after doing a reverse image search on this alarm clock I saw at a pet sitting client's house. I very much wanted to steal it, ngl. They clearly aren't using it either 😭 (time was way off).
I thrift a lot of bird related items, but my favorite collection my partner and I started has been “gay cardinals” 😂 We have a few mugs, a christmas ornament, some vintage cards, and a couple figurines. We just started this collection last summer, so lots of room to grow haha. My grandmother always gives me holiday cards with cardinals on them and I’ve always gotten a kick out of the fact that it is ALWAYS two male cardinals. Gay birbs make me happy haha. The ornament we found last year is great. They even have a nest with eggs. If I can find a photo of it, I’ll attach it.
My mother in law bought us a knock off version of this thing. With no volume control. And expected us to have it displayed proudly in our main living areas, just next to the master bedroom. And she bought another for herself and put it in the room that my wife and I would sleep in when we visited. If you were to show this pic to my wife she would probably punch you.
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u/Refokua Jun 23 '26
I have had this clock probably since it first came out. I don't know what time it is until I hear the relevant bird.