The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

I saw trained pigeons flying from my hotel rooftop in Wuhan when I visited in 2001. Someone on another building was commanding them to fly in patterns with flags. I don't recall if there were any whistles involved, but it was a really captivating sight to watch that I have never seen since.

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#5

Post by ravila4 » Wed, May 14, 2025, 8:07 PM UTC

This is another informative video, if you want to see the crafting process: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x78adua

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#6

Post by RandallBrown » Wed, May 14, 2025, 8:54 PM UTC

I thought for sure this was going to be whistle designed to scare off pigeons or something. Turns out they attach whistles to pigeons so they make sounds when they fly! Very interesting.

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#7

Post by dylan604 » Wed, May 14, 2025, 9:05 PM UTC

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #2

The sound of the whistle... https://youtu.be/VfXE-RxKna4

That's kind of horrific. Not only is there a horrible sound, but then the camera shows the results of this aerial attack with all of the bird poop. Such a strange video.

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#8

Post by xg15 » Wed, May 14, 2025, 9:34 PM UTC

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #2

The sound of the whistle... https://youtu.be/VfXE-RxKna4

Gotta be a sign of the times that the first spontaneous association I had was that of air raid sirens.

Thanks a lot for the link though!

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#9

Post by xg15 » Wed, May 14, 2025, 9:35 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #3

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #2

The sound of the whistle... https://youtu.be/VfXE-RxKna4

Thanks you, the article doesn't have the sound. Nor does it have a photo of the whistle attached to a pigeon!!!

Isn't the leftmost pigeon carrying one here? http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/2018/cs/201911/W02019...

Re: The pigeon whistle: A defining sound of old Beijing (2019)

#10

Post by 0xbadcafebee » Wed, May 14, 2025, 9:54 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #7

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #2

The sound of the whistle... https://youtu.be/VfXE-RxKna4

That's kind of horrific. Not only is there a horrible sound, but then the camera shows the results of this aerial attack with all of the bird poop. Such a strange video.

You don't like Beijing's version of the whistle tip?