Family Junk Mail | Main | Being Blunt, Evening Edition
May 24, 2006
A Different Kind of Chirp
While sitting on the 2 yesterday morning, I heard the unmistakable sound of birds chirping. My initial instinct was to look for a lost pigeon in some far off corner of the train, but after shaking the sleep from my eyes and ears, I quickly discovered the culprit-- the iPod clad ear to my right.
It seems as though the woman next to me was listening to an aviary on MP3. Every few seconds shrill cooing emanated from her ears, making me feel as though I was standing on the periphery of a rain forest. All attempts at the "I-am-staring-at-you-out-of-the-corner-of-my-eye" glares failed and finally I blatantly inched closer to my neighbor, desperate to figure out what the hell she was listening to on the iPod. I failed miserably and resorted to simply listening to the chirps, wondering if I was the only one who kept hearing a forest of birds in a subway car at eight in the morning.
Posted by callalillie at May 24, 2006 7:02 AM | City Life , This is Not Your Living Room
Birdwatcher homework? Tweet!
Posted by: Vickie at May 24, 2006 7:47 AM
i used to see pigeons on the station at 168th st on the 1, which you have to take an elevator to - i always wondered how they got there, seeing as the 1 doesn't go above ground until ~ 30 blocks away...
Posted by: dahl at May 24, 2006 10:23 AM
Life on the flatland prairie is so different. I was walking under a tree...and found a blue robin's egg. When i looked up, i saw a nest. Got out the ladder to see if i could replace the egg....and found NOT robins..some other sort of black grackle birds. All the while, the parents were swooping and twitting. Luckily they weren't blue jays or they would probably have pecked my eyes out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11523034@N00/sets/72157594144019610/
Posted by: xath at May 24, 2006 11:27 AM
This was definitely bird chirping on an iPod. So weird.
I used to love watching the pigeons fly in and out of the M train at the Middle Village stop in Queens. They would literally congregate inside the car while it was waiting to start the route agian.
Posted by: corie at May 24, 2006 11:48 AM
One of my faculty is developing a "digital aviary" for the iPod - and there happen to be some others out already, one is called iBirder, I believe. Maybe this woman is an avid weekend birder and was getting familiar with the calls for an upcoming trip.
Posted by: kdub at May 24, 2006 5:49 PM
Or this may be another alien life form communicating in its native tongue. New York is a great melting pot for all galaxies.
Posted by: Vickie at May 26, 2006 7:34 AM