Fake bird sounds on Mill Avenue irk some patrons : AZ IMC

It's a typical night on Mill Avenue.

Couples holding hands and groups of mostly young people crowd the sidewalks and shops.

An older man with wild gray hair plays his guitar, an empty case set out in front of him to collect tips.

And from the tops of the large, lush trees that line the walkway, exotic bird noises travel down from speakers to unsuspecting ears below.

"It's kind of something you'd expect at Disneyworld, right?" said passer-by Blake Reno, 26, regarding the bird noises. "It's a little bit tacky."

Tacky or not, the phony bird calls have little to do with a desire to create a tropical atmosphere on Mill Avenue.

The speakers were installed in March to diminish the bird population on Mill Avenue, said Steve Amelotte, Tempe parks/golf landscaping maintenance supervisor and city arborist.

"The city of Tempe is trying all sorts of methods to try to deter starlings, tangeires and grackles from nesting in the ficus trees," he said.

Amelotte said he installed the speakers on the roofs of several buildings stretching from the Coffee Plantation to Bath and Body Works.

The speakers emit both sonic and ultrasonic noises that travel upward, and they play only from dusk to dawn since that is when the birds nest, he added.

Amelotte said that if one stands on Mill Avenue in mid-October 10 minutes before sunrise, they can watch about 50,000 birds take off from the trees at the same time like a swarm of bees.

That amount of birds is simply too bothersome to have around shoppers and eaters, even if it is a beautiful and impressive sight, he added.

"It's bad for the patrons and the restaurants," he said. "If you have 50,000 birds, that's just too many birds to have above people that are eating."

However, some patrons said they dislike the speakers.

"Hearing the fake bird sounds is worse than hearing the real bird sounds," said Andrew Donnelly, 20.

Music therapy freshman Rebekah Gailey agreed.

"They're annoying," she said. "I remember walking by and thinking, 'What is that? Is that a monkey?'"

However, not everyone dislikes the noises.

"I don't really mind it," architecture junior Chad Staple said. "I have nothing against it."

Amelotte said that he hasn't received any complaints.

"We're trying to help move the birds to somewhere they won't be so offensive, and I think that [shop and restaurant owners] are supporting us in what we're doing."