[Mr.Bing]

i hope i'm not hearing things so please let me know if you've been hearing this as well.
right about now (and for the past couple hours at the same time every night for the past week) there is a really annoying loud sound that sounds like it's coming from somewhere in soho near the old bailey prison.
i can still hear it when i have my windows closed.
it sounds like a potential lovechild from a one night stand between a cuckoo bird and a bush baby. a really loud cuckoo bird and a really loud bush baby...
It keeps repeating the same noice over and over again, stops for a bit, and then resumes.
any clue? i'm really curious...

[shri]

I think you're refering to the monkeys at botanical garden. They do their mating thingy every morning. We used to live on Robinson Rd, and would hear it too.

[Andrew W Scott]

Hey Shri, you may very well be right, but when it starts up, it is VERY rythmical, with the time between each screech being exactly the same, maybe 1.3 seconds or so?

At first I thought it was some kind of bird call, and I haven't completely discounted that possibility. But now, because of the even time between each screech, I am starting to wonder whether it's something to do with a piece of machinery.

I live near the corner of Staunton and the escalator, and it is quite loud for me. I hang around this area pretty much all day, and I've heard it in the early morning but also as late as 10pm at night, and all different times in between. When it starts, it goes for a considerable period of time, then stops completely. Then after a while, it starts up again.

It's not happening right now.

Does anybody else have a theory to add to Shri's monkey theory?

[shri]

Well, the birds also contribute ... but, why blame them when you can blame the monkeys.

[jrlevin]

I live on Old Bailey and hear it as well. I even tried to look for the bird hovering around the prison. I have seen some kkind of hawkish bird out my window. Monkeys in the botanical garden seems too far away. If you find out please let me know.

[jayinhongkong]

Interesting. I live pretty close by (but not close by to hear your particular annoying sound, although we have plenty of our own up here on Bonham Road). It might well be a bird or machinery. I'll keep my ears open for the noise...

[kombuchakid]

The main culprit in that area would be the blue magpie.
especially during spring

http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/green/birds/en/bird_15.html

[Mr.Bing]

Originally Posted by kombuchakid

The main culprit in that area would be the blue magpie.
especially during spring

http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/green/birds/en/bird_15.html

interesting lead...

anybody else would like to listen to the bird songs below and try to see what matches up? I listen to the Blue Magpie call and it's sounds a bit similar to the actual noise, if only the Blue Magpie were on steroids or had a megaphone as it's really loud, like a train whistle.

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/call.html


though I am personally hoping it would turn out to be the Great Tit or the Velvet Fronted Nuthatch, as they're funnier to say, LOL (but seriously, who comes up with these names for birds - my favorite is the Blue Footed Booby - or is it just my sophomoric "easily amused" sense of humor?)

[KnowItAll]

And what a great topic to open the Central / Mid-Levels forum ..

[Andrew W Scott]

A local Hong Kong girl I know assures me it is a bird. I'm still not 100% convinced.