night owl

From night + owl, from the fact that the bird is active at night.

• ""You are one night owl, Monsieur Reetchie," he said. / "And you seem to prefer the small hours for your visits, Monsieur de St. Gré," I could not refrain from replying."
• "It has been said the perfect transportation salesman must be: "A man of vision and ambition; an after dinner speaker; before and after dinner goodfellow; he must work all day; be a night owl and still appear fresh the next day; [..."]"
• "And that's all for tonight, night owls. This is your Number-One-Night Owl saying it's 3 o'clock, all right, and time to rock your daddy to dreams of delight. And Mama, I'm comin' home. And the rest of you night owls gonna have to make it through the rest of the night by yourself, or with the help of your friends, if you know what I mean."
• "[H]e could make out the figure of a fellow weary eyed night owl standing one space in front of him. [...] He scooted an extra step forward, one and a half cordoned spaces from the counter, but snapped back to his unpleasantly boring reality, empty of enchanting night owls or hopes to be."
• "Michelle [Obama] liked to wake up early and could barely keep her eyes open after ten o'clock. I was a night owl and could be a bit grumpy (mean, Michelle would say) within the first half hour or so of getting out of bed."
• "Night owls are least alert in the morning, most alert at night. This creates problems at work and at school. When night owls try to sleep at socially acceptable times, they have a hard time falling asleep and complain of insomnia."
• "The thieves know this area. They're night owls. And they're growing bolder."

• nighthawk
• night person

• day lark
• early bird
• lark
• morning person