I work in downtown Chicago, and my daily walk to and from the train regularly takes me down Monroe east of Wacker. There are new buildings on bothe the NE and SE corners of the intersection of Monroe and Wacker. The one on the SE has two large doors facing Monroe for cars to enter and leave their parking garage.
Often, but not all the time, when I pass these garage doors, I will hear sounds that I can only describe as “jungle birds.” You know - the kind of sounds you will hear in a cheesy movie soundtrack when they wish to convey that the action is taking place in deepest darkest Africa? Does anyone have any idea why a building in a big city would broadcast such sounds?
I’ve tried to figure if they were some kind of a signal to let you know cars were exiting, but that does not seem to be the case, as sometimes the birds will be calling and no cars are entering or exiting. There is also an alarm and flashing light at the sidewalk to warn pedestrians when cars are exiting.
The garage doors are perpetually left open during the days. Are these sounds to discourage pigeons and other city vermin from taking up residence?
I mentioned this to a fellow commuter the other day. He said he had heard the calls, but had assumed that they were simply birds that had become trapped in the garages somehow. I’m no Colibri, but these sure don’t sound like any birds I’ve heard in my 46 years of living in this area!
For reference, the bird sound most usually dubbed over jungle scenes in the movies is the call of the kookaburra (which isn’t a native of African or American jungles, where the action may be occurring)
A building by me (also in Chicago) has these sounds running most of the day and night too. I always thought it was to keep real birds out of the parking garage.
Without a clearer idea of what the calls are like, I’d be hard-pressed to guess what they are. The species most commonly used for “jungle sounds” in movies is the Laughing Kookaburra of Australia, which doesn’t actually live in jungles.
Starlings can make an incredible variety of weird sounds, so if the sounds are actually made by birds that would be my first guess.
I think what you’re hearing are probably the monk parakeets, or as I affectionately call them, “those stupid green birds that prevented me from sleeping in throughout college”.
Although they’re native to South America, apparently the combination of a communal lifstyle, warm nests, and bird feeders has allowed them to survive the colder climate.
I couldn’t say one way or the other about Dinsdale’s birds for certain, but I do know that the ones I was talking about were no recording. For one thing, no one would be sadistic enough to play bird sounds at six o’clock every morning. For another, they built huge, unsightly nests on every utility pole along my walk to campus.
Here’s a link that goes into greater detail about the little fiends and another with a link to an .ra file of their call. It doesn’t jibe exactly with my recollection, but that’s likely because I heard somewhere on the order of 25* at once.
Nope, there are definitely monkparakeets living in Chicago. They live primarily down in the Hyde Park neighbourhood, although I suppose it’s possible that they flew up to the Loop to see the sights.
Here’s a page with some sound files of their call — it’s not much like your stereotypical “jungle bird”.
Tho I see plenty of starlings and grackles in my suburban yard, I don’t think I’ve seen any in the downtown business district. Over past winters my buddy and I have seen the monks while running along the lakefront - but not this winter. These sounds are not monks. And like HL says, they clearly are recorded. Everytime I hear them they are the same.
I’m no Kookaburra expert, but IIRC, that typical jungle soundtrack sound is sort of an ascending laughing coo-coo-coo-coo-coo, caww, caww. This recording is somewhat different. No doubt I was incorrect in attributing this call to any particular jungle, but the point I was trying to get across is that it sure doesn’t resemble any birds I’ve ever heard around Chicago.
Downtown and away from the lake, I’d estimate that 99% of the birds are pigeons and seagulls, with a couple of resident peregrines and your odd LBBs tossed in. Of course in spring and fall mornings you occasionally find unfortunate travellers on the sidewalk following run-ins with the lighted skyscrapers.
I guess what I was wondering was, if they want to discourage birds, why use sounds of birds that are not native to this area. These recordings don’t sound like any hawk, owl, or crow - common predatory birds - I’ve ever heard around these parts.
Or would a Chicago bird instinctively know to fear a call from a S. American, African, or Austrailian bird?
As I said, I’m familiar with monks. My running buddy and I first noticed them maybe 3-4 winters ago, around the museum campus and south along the lake. A little research revealed that there are several communities of them around the Chicago area. As we heard it, they travelled up to the downtown lakefront to eat the berries that hung onto the ornamental trees - a late winter foodsource. There was some expectation that they might set up residence in the area, but as of last winter none had done so yet. It ain’t easy to miss their huge nests.
As of this winter, my buddy and I did not see a single monk. (We’re such geeks we even have a standing $1 bet for who is the first to see/hear one, so we are very familiar with how they look and sound.)
I don’t know how to describe these sounds I’m describing, but they aren’t monks.
just a suggestion - why not stop in one morning and check with security? It’s possible that they know. Or, failing that, why not stop in to the actual garage and ask the people who work there? Just an idea. xo, C.