# What bird call sounds like the Star Trek sound effect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059 "2015-04-19T19:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/1 "2015-04-19T19:26:05Z")
The background sound heard on the original Star Trek series, you know like “waush -waush” that I assume is some background noise the Enterprise makes. I hear this all day everyday and it is driving me nuts, Trinidad is location if it matters. Maybe you could type it “whoo- whoo”? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/2 "2015-04-19T20:41:05Z")
Is it the sound of the opening and closing of the elevator doors that you mean? ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/3 "2015-04-21T15:12:38Z")
Maybe you could narrow it down a wee bit? [https://www.google.com/?gws\_rd=ssl#q=star+trek+sound+effects](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=star+trek+sound+effects) The first couple of sites have a zillion sounds. I’d search (I’m in a sound downloading mood right now), but my headphones are dying so they’ll need a recharge. From this site: Here’s the [view screen](http://www.trekcore.com/audio/background/tos_bridge_viewscreen_slow.mp3) “ping” like a Star Trek version of a radar. This has the [lift doors](http://www.trekcore.com/audio/background/tos_bridge_4.mp3) at the very beginning. Whoops – headphones died again. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/4 "2015-04-21T22:40:16Z")
> [@Kzbre5m](#): > > Maybe you could narrow it down a wee bit? Indeed. Does this bird live in Tierra del Fuego, the Sahara or Cambodia. Even narrowing it own to a single continent would help.Out of a zillion sound effects and a zillion possible birds there is no way this question has a factual answer. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/5 "2015-04-22T03:44:50Z")
The OP specified Trinidad. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/6 "2015-04-22T04:52:24Z")
Assuming it’s not just a coincidence, I think the likelier path is some sound engineer heard a bird call and duplicated it as a sound effect. So it’s Star Trek that sounds like a bird not a bird that sounds like Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/7 "2015-04-22T05:22:02Z")
> [@susan](#): > > The OP specified Trinidad. Missed that. :o ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/8 "2015-04-22T12:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=susan] The OP specified Trinidad. [/QUOTE] Saw that, too. I meant narrowing down the Star Trek sound, since I’m not up to date on Trinidadian bird songs. That’s why I gave him the homework assignment. Looking up [Trinidad bird sounds](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Trinidad+bird+sounds) got me a [bird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XiOhJvx2A) that sounds like Captain Kirk sitting on a Tribble. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEe0DQ6L4R0) one sounds like a bullfinch, with a rooster in the background. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/9 "2015-04-22T21:07:58Z")
Blue jays can make many different sounds. They are mimics. One of their common calls, other than imitating a hawk, sounds like a tropical jungle call. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/10 "2015-04-23T02:45:19Z")
I have spent some time trying to find the sound in ST, but it corresponds to no action on screen it is like a background engine noise in scenes. Like bloosh bloosh…bloosh bloosh bloosh. A very tech sound, it took me a while to realize I was hearing a bird and not someone’s smart phone with the ST sound programmed for email arrival years ago. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/11 "2015-04-23T03:29:00Z")
Could it be a frog? You might want to PM **Colibri** , who knows these things. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bird-call-sounds-like-the-star-trek-sound-effect/718059/12 "2015-04-23T03:52:30Z")
Can you see this YouTube clip from Trinidad? [Star Trek: TOS USS-Enterprise Bridge Background Ambience.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LleeMp9aJH8) If you find the sound, you can use the “share” option to re-post the video right at the time you hear the sound so we know which one you’re talking about.