faux birds?

So, is anyone else severely annoyed with the faux bird chirping alarm thing on St. Marks and Underhill/Washington? I'm sure they're all over the place, but damn, at 12:00 am the bird starts chirping and I feel like I'm in Poe's, the Raven.

Maybe its the lot across the street, or maybe its the bird in my head......hmm......

OMG JUST MOVE TO THE SUBURBS IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN DON'T DESTROY THE VIBE OF OUR VIBRANT CITY YOU ANTI-FAKE-BIRD YUPPIE

yeah, the bird also chirps something that sounds like "rat" "ner", "rat" "ner"....jeez louise, I could be crazy.....;)

hehehe, thanks.

ooh, i'm glad i don't live near there. my real birds respond to any and all whistles, chirps, tweets, and the occasional car alarm.

Subject: Re: faux birds?

Anonymous wrote: Maybe its the lot across the street, or maybe its the bird in my head......hmm......

maybe it was this bird:

In my experience, that chirping noise is usually for handicapped people (blind), so that they can tell when the light has changed. It's a good thing, unless your really into the whole "Blind People as Roadkill" art "thing".

Currently I'm on Washington and Bergen, and our backyard abuts the parking lot on St. Marks. In the daytime it's not so noticable, but at night ALL NIGHT, those freaking loud fake bird calls are also now driving me insane! WTF????? It's a somewhat recent development.

The parking lot guys {lovely people, BTW} are heavily into massive blowup/lightup figures and decorations every holiday, planting many pretty flowers around the perimeter of the lot, taking care of stray cats and their litters, etc. and it wouldn't surprise me if they did this as an "improvement". I'm going to ask them next time I go by. Somehow, I don't think this has anything to do with helping blind people, who don't park. I'm almost positive it's coming from the lot. GRRRR> Way too loud and severely annoying.

sje wrote: I don't think this has anything to do with helping blind people, who don't park. I'm almost positive it's coming from the lot.

yeah its to warn you of cars coming outta the lot/parking-buildings so they dont smoosh you on teh sidewalk... cause those drivers never look...

But it's constant, and super loud. You mean that it's a heads-up for blind people walking past? There aren't that many to warrant playing the loop 24 hrs a day!!

sje wrote: But it's constant, and super loud. You mean that it's a heads-up for blind people walking past? There aren't that many to warrant playing the loop 24 hrs a day!!

oh, i thought it was just periodically. all day? yeah, thats weird. where exactly is this sound? id love to check it out...

Subject: last night....again!

yeah, sje...did you hear it last night? Its obviously not for people that are blind or anything like that, because there's no pattern to the noise....My musical self even tried to nail down the meter....

let's get into conspiracy theories--the drug dealers are making those noises so that everyone will close their windows so that they can do their bidness....

any other conspiracy theories?

Yes, I heard it last night, it ruins the cool evenings in my kitchen now. It's so loud as to be headache inducing, and the bird calls sound fake, not even recordings of real ones, more like amplified versions of the toys you can get in Chinatown. Oy Vey! Make it Stop!

Conspiracy theory 2 - Ratners torture device -

Not that I'm advocating petty vandalism, but if you can see where the thing is coming from surely you can break it...

Carnivore wrote: surely you can break it...

again, can someone tell me exactly where its coming from? id like to check it out.

Subject: locale

From where I am, it sounds like its coming from St. Marks between Underhill/Washington Aves....

I finally got around to asking the parking lot guy, Richard, about the bird sounds. Have to say I was half an inch away from complaining to him, as I thought they had done one of their funny, eccentric decorating or improvement things, usually those are enjoyable, BUT...

IT'S A REAL BIRD! or birds. The lot recently put up large, bright lights at night to make the lot safer at night, and since then, Richard says that it's a black bird with a golden collar that's talking to his girlfriend, he thinks the birds are confused by the brightness of the lights, hence all the nighttime chirping. I have since heard the chirping coming from different locations in the immediate area, but have not seen the bird{s} yet.

Mystery solved. I still can't believe they're so loud.

Birds around this time of year also get wicked pasted off the berries that fall from trees and frement in the sun. They get sloshed and will do eccentric things.

Oh, I see, the birds are DRUNK. That's why they're so loud.

It's possible. Birds really do get wasted like that. Lots of times they'll get drunk and slam into windows because they see the sun reflecting and mistake it for the real thing. I used to work at this place with HUGE plate glass windows near my desk and a bunch of berry trees out front. African swallowtails would get all pasted and slam into the windows. All day long, THUMP, THUMP, THWACK. I'd leave and see like 20-30 dead birds lying at the foot of the window. We tried everything, plastic owls, cutouts of large birds, glued to the glass. Anything to scare them away from the windows. Eventually, after everything else failed, we resorted to running long streams of yellow caution tape from the roof to the ground with aluminum pie tins interspersed to rattle and reflect light. That worked but looked ridiculous.

I'm sure it was prettier than dead birds.

any bird, drunk or sober will make similar mistakes with glass. i took poor stupid buddy bird (pictured in my avatar) to the vet one time for his checkup, and the poor thing got so freaked out at the vet's he flew headfirst into the window there. he smashed up the little cuticle thing near his beak, and fell to the floor. fortunately for him, we were already at the vet's.

birds are boozehounds though, my new baby bird peanut tries to steal my wine ALL the time.

My brother & sister-in-law live in Cobble Hill. There's a mockingbird that lives near their bedroom window that has learned the call of the urban car alarm and now sings that song incessantly to them. Nature gone horribly awry.

That mocking bird must have a brother or sister in my backyard because I have one that does the same thing!!! It also likes to mess with the stray cats in the yard.