It's called Jersey Hill, but it's in Upstate New York. Birds, after all, define "bird brained", so they read a map, and decided they must have to go to New Jersey to find Jersey Hill.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, someone uttered "Where did all these f***ing pigeons come from?" The pigeons found spilled popcorn on the boardwalk, and were happy. The cats under the boardwalk were happier. posted by eriko at 7:09 AM on February 7 [3 favorites]
This is a lot more interesting than my first thought, which was a colony of extremely happy eagles. posted by figurant at 7:18 AM on February 7 [3 favorites]
I'm pretty skeptical of the ocean sounds explanation.
1) It says they can hear down to .5 Hz but that the infrasound is "every 6 seconds", i.e. around .17 Hz. Maybe some Super Pigeons can hear down that level, but if they are relying on it then surely they'd be more closely matched.
2) Pigeons live other places than near oceans and I've never heard of pigeons not working in, say, Iowa.
I'd also like to see some evidence of infrasound recordings taken at Jersey Hill (with and without temperature inversions) rather than reliance on a model. posted by DU at 7:40 AM on February 7
If I read it correctly DU, the article said they can hear down to 0.05 Hz, not 0.5. posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:44 AM on February 7
I've never heard of pigeons not working in, say, Iowa.
That's because they're down home, corn fed, hard working real American pigeons in Iowa, not those liberal northeastern socialist loving "pigeons" up in New York. Also, CLINTON. posted by eriko at 7:48 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]
The word on the powerline is that Jersey Hill is a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there. posted by srboisvert at 9:43 AM on February 7
yoink: " They're claiming that the infrasounds travel thousands of miles, not just locally."
That has been known for a while, hasn't it? A whole host of mammals communicate with or signal each other through infrasound, across many hundreds of miles. posted by zarq at 9:47 AM on February 7
Sometimes the solution to a mystery is so obvious that the fact that is hasn't been solved is frustrating even to the casual investigator.
In this case: dragons. It's so easy to see from where I'm sitting that dragons have been eating all the pigeons. posted by item at 10:01 AM on February 7
Where are you sitting that you can see dragons?! posted by maryr at 11:09 AM on February 7
Shadow zone, eh? How do I make one of those in my neighborhood? posted by orme at 11:44 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]
Re: pigeons in Iowa, from the article: "infrasounds can travel thousands of miles in the atmosphere." posted by stbalbach at 7:12 PM on February 7
This is very cool; thank you for posting it. posted by LobsterMitten at 11:03 PM on February 7
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:55 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]