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Ikea's call gets birds' attention

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By RICHARD MULLINS rmullins@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2009

So what do birds think of Ikea's bird call system?

As an experiment, we recorded the calls, and replayed them for some birds at the 1-2 Tweet bird store in Brandon, which sells some of the smartest birds in the world - parrots.

Normally, the store is a cacophony of screeches, chirps and squawks from a dozen or more parrots. But the moment the recording started playing, birds snapped to attention.

"The whole store went silent," said Al Asenavage, a bird breeder and manager of the store. "Birds are birds, they are going to be loud. And they were dead quiet."

The parrots sat perfectly still, Asenavage said, which is what they'd do with a predator nearby.

If these birds were in flight around Ikea, and heard these calls, Asenavage said their reaction would be to dive toward a tree and take cover - or fly away quickly. "It got their attention, they were looking for the bird of prey ... It's proof right there."

Richard Mullins

Keyword: Ikea birds, to listen to a recording birds hear from the rooftop of Ikea.

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