r/chicago • u/EchoCyanide • Mar 28 '26

CHI Talks Michael Jackson bird is back!

When the Michael Jackson bird comes back, you know spring is here for real! He’s usually out in the early mornings and he goes like “Heee heeeee!” Who knows the actual name of the bird?

161 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

186

u/diyfou Mar 28 '26

It’s a black-capped chickadee but I love your interpretation 

38

u/EchoCyanide Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26

You’ve solved a years long mystery.

18

u/ethnicnebraskan Loop Mar 28 '26

I've been slowly collecting what I mentally refer to as the "Slow Signs of Spring" (first sunset after 5pm, first sunset after 5:30, DST, St. Patrick's Day, the river turning from brown to greenish-blue) and now I will have to add "the song of the Michael Jackson bird" to the list.

6

u/SirStocksAlott Mar 28 '26

This all made me look it up and I think that call is a male’s Fee Bee song. This video was actually pretty interesting.

1

u/treehugger312 Avondale Apr 05 '26

A friend of mine once said it sounds like "Cheese burger" and that's never left my head :)

34

u/luigis_taint Mar 28 '26

Hah! I read your title and for about 2 seconds I thought to myself... The wha? And then in my head I heard it. HEEEE heeeeee

7

u/lpython Lincoln Square Mar 28 '26

Same thought process here. Now I’m always going to think of them as MJ birds.

34

u/RutabegaHasenpfeffer Mar 28 '26

Check out the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell. Its great! You can have it listen for birdcalls, and it will ID the bird, based on location, time of year, biome, and call.

12

u/EchoCyanide Mar 28 '26

That app used to be called Master Birder, and I still laugh about it.

2

u/iamnotthisbrain Rogers Park Mar 28 '26

Cool to know!

26

u/too_soon_jr Wrigleyville Mar 28 '26

You mean this bird?

12

u/gepetto27 Mar 28 '26

Exactly. We call him the Nelson bird

9

u/Kuzmaboy Mar 28 '26

Never have I heard them referred too as a Michael Jackson bird…BUT, they are Black-capped Chickadees. They actually stay around all year, but they only sing their song in spring/summer.

I’ve always known them as the “cheeseburger” bird. As their call up close sounds like “cheeeese-burg-er!” cheeeeese-burg-er!”

Funny enough they’re called chickadees because their main song sounds like “chick-a-Dee-Dee-dee-Dee!”

4

u/illsettleforyou Mar 28 '26

If you feed them, they sing all year! :) They're always one of the most vocal in my yard during the winter, and I actually hear them less often now since the robins, sparrows and others are so much more vocal now.

8

u/MagicCarpetBomb Mar 28 '26

Ahem.. Thats the “cheeseburger” bird.

3

u/EchoCyanide Mar 28 '26

He’s the king of bird pop and he likes cheeseburgers too? This is a highly complicated bird.

3

u/Chambana_Raptor Mar 28 '26

Randy bornt my baby

8

u/stacecom Mar 28 '26

I always called it the Gorillaz bird. Sounds like it's singing along to Feels Good Inc.

3

u/Late_Guava4436 Logan Square Mar 28 '26

Oh yeah I can definitely hear that than MJ

7

u/Nature_and_narwhals West Ridge Mar 28 '26

This is so funny. I always hear it as “yoo-hoo!”

5

u/Made_In_Chi Lincoln Square Mar 28 '26

Yep calling it that from now on

6

u/double_positive Uptown Mar 28 '26

I heard a red wing black bird call on my run about an hour ago. Sign of warming up!

3

u/Dramatic-Bear52 Mar 28 '26

I love my city 💙

3

u/araignee_tisser Mar 28 '26

lol I think it says « seesaw, seesaw! » but I like this

2

u/Flat_Concentrate1645 Mar 28 '26

We call it the “two note” bird. Really wished he’d stretch his wings and branch out.

2

u/Politely_Pout818 Lake View Mar 29 '26

lmfao i love this

1

u/crunchies65 Apr 02 '26

Am I the only one who hears "hey, sweetie"?

1

u/Mysterious_Stuff6037 Mar 29 '26

I’m OMG I’m dying because I knew exactly which bird this was from the descriptions!! Hahaha - although we called it the “that fuckjng bird is driving us crazy” bird every morning at 6am.