Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Something to crow about: Bird learns to mimic car sirens at police workshop

Baffled officers at Thames Valley Police filmed the moment the bird replicated the sound of a police siren.

Sarah Ping
Wednesday 10 April 2024 15:43 EDT
A bird mimicking the sound of a police siren confused officers with its convincing impression (Alamy/PA)
A bird mimicking the sound of a police siren confused officers with its convincing impression (Alamy/PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A bird mimicking the sound of a police siren confused officers with its convincing impression.

Staff at Thames Valley Police spotted the bird making the noises outside the Roads Policing base in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

The team filmed the moment the bird began its usual call before replicating the sound of a police siren.

The video shows a police car parked in a bay outside the Roads Policing base before panning to the bird, sat in a tree, mimicking the sound.

The 46-second clip captures the bird mimicking the police siren twice after it learned to copy the noise, which left officers and Bicester residents “confused”.

Thames Valley Police shared the video on X, formerly Twitter, and warned followers the footage is “100% real and not a late April Fools joke”.

It also wrote on X: “Officers at our Roads Policing base in Bicester have been left a little confused this week, after finding out one of their resident birds has learnt to mimic the sound of a police siren!

“From our workshops that test out the two tone tune to officers deploying to jobs, this little fella has been sat patiently observing the noise to recreate it!”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in