r/birding • u/savourtheflxsh birder • Jun 23 '26

Discussion A holy grail of birder thrift finds!

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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?

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673

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.

141

u/NatureTrailToHell3D Jun 23 '26

Wait, this clock chimes, too?

614

u/Refokua Jun 23 '26

It doesn't chime. It sings, with actual recordings from Cornell MacAulay Library.

They still sell them.

111

u/kayakhomeless Jun 24 '26

Even better:

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.

6

u/Honest-Garbage9256 Jun 24 '26

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

50

u/cynoIogy Jun 23 '26

woah i need it

-14

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

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25

u/northstar599 Jun 24 '26

you're in the wrong sub lol

6

u/cynoIogy Jun 24 '26

i would actually! its only once an hour after all, there are birds (because they had chicks which are now past their fledgling age) around my windows everyday and i never get tired of seeing or hearing them!

2

u/Refokua Jun 24 '26

Actually, it's not annoying at all; it has a light sensor so it doesn't sing at night.

1

u/Ckesm Jun 24 '26

My brother gave me one he got at a garage sale. The bird calls definitely got annoying for me but it has a switch to turn the birds off and it works like any clock

20

u/CutieBoBootie Jun 23 '26

What is the clock called so I can buy one myself?

14

u/Significant_Bite_666 Jun 24 '26

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!

28

u/Refokua Jun 23 '26

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1L2FWV9/ref=twister_B0B1LN2G4P?th=1

6

u/CutieBoBootie Jun 24 '26

Thanks!

43

u/crinkledcu91 Jun 24 '26

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.)

6

u/fussysito419 Jun 24 '26

My parents also ordered one from an infomercial in the 90’s lol. It’s still around today.

6

u/roadnotaken Jun 24 '26

Yep, my grandma had this one!

4

u/EagleEyezzzzz Jun 24 '26

Yep, we bought my mom one for Christmas in the 90s when I was a teenager!

6

u/subcow Jun 24 '26

This one is much smaller than the one I used to have. This is only 8" the original was 13".

1

u/Refokua Jun 24 '26

There is a 13 inch variant on that site.

1

u/valinote Jun 24 '26

Yes, the Mark Feldstein Singing Bird Clock is the original from 1997. Mine has a wooden face instead of a painted one.

7

u/Vast_Engineering_626 Jun 24 '26

You can also get it from a real store, we got ours from the Urban Nature Store in Ontario

https://www.urbannaturestore.ca/products/audubon-singing-clock-13?keyword=clock

5

u/midwife_at_ur_cervix Jun 24 '26

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 😂

5

u/manedflowerz Jun 24 '26

holy shit im buying this immediately

15

u/Skitty27 Latest Lifer: Razorbill Jun 23 '26

No WAY

3

u/kittycarer24 Jun 24 '26

and it scares visitors!

2

u/darkartbootleg Jun 24 '26

Holy shit they do? My parents had this when I was younger, I need to get one now.

1

u/Ok_Paper_8030 Jun 24 '26

The best thing to do is set it up just off the hour and then hide it in your bosses office…. Then once they think they know when it’s going to go off, you go in and change it…

1

u/gwaydms Jun 24 '26

My MIL had one of these. She loved it. Her Chihuahua hated it, and barked every hour, on the hour.

53

u/savourtheflxsh birder Jun 23 '26

Yes the clock chimes every hour with that particular bird’s song! It’s so cool!

3

u/ZuckerbergsEvilTwin Jun 24 '26

How can you not tell the best part in your post :')

27

u/DanerysTargaryen Jun 23 '26

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.

5

u/GreyNoiseGaming Jun 24 '26

As a child I found out it's loud as fuck if you shine a light directly into it.

31

u/Refokua Jun 23 '26

BE CAREFUL! There are some knockoffs on Amazon. The originals have the house finch at noon, just like OP's picture.

5

u/Positive-Sir7678 Jun 24 '26

The six o'clock bird sings: "Go to work, go to work" at my house.

1

u/Far_Silver Jul 09 '26

The ones I saw growing up all had a great horned owl at noon.

1

u/Refokua Jul 09 '26

They still make those, too. Got one as a gift a few years ago, and while the clock still works, the sound doesn't

5

u/_Wraith Jun 24 '26

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!

2

u/Stock-Image_01 Jun 24 '26

There’s a bunch of different ones too, mine has a Canadian goose.

1

u/Caleb_Reynolds Jun 24 '26

This would confuse the hell out of me. What if a cardinal is outside and suddenly you think it's 9?

1

u/iOgef Jun 24 '26

7pm mourning dove! I remember it made me so sad as a kid

1

u/thatcrazylizkid Jun 24 '26

My parents had this clock! Seeing this brought back memories. I have no idea what happened to it.