Urban Birds Are Rising Earlier Because of Traffic Noise (2013) | Hacker News Reader

Urban Birds Are Rising Earlier Because of Traffic Noise (2013)

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48 pointsthunderbong15 comments

Ladybugs that stash in your house instead of in a log end up waking from winter dormancy earlier than their prey does. They inevitably starve and exhaust their calories. In an old house you can sometimes discover a nook somewhere and uncover a graveyard of thousands of them.

I always wondered why I would find so many dead lady bugs around.

I have watched seagulls commuting back and forth at midnight, as city lighting at scale around a large harbour seems to work for some of them. Country gulls still commute at regular diurnal schedules, or at least there still isn't enough light to watch things flying at night. I have watched crows that specialise in catching stuned insects on the verges where a busy hyway intersects a large stretch of mature healthy forest, but not anywhere else.Though I can see smaller birds getting used to crumbs and ends bieng tossed from early commuters breakfasts on the fly.

Given electric cars are quieter, curious about how likely is a reversal of this trend.

I find electric cars louder than the current engines most of the time. The space travel noises they put out while driving are louder than say a non hybrid Camry, not to mention ICE cars don’t make any backing up noises. Parallel parking of electric cars is so annoying. Hybrids too, I can hear the whining of a Prius coming down the street from half a block away.

This is not to say I’m against electric and hybrid cars, I’m all for them. But the fake noises they added are not a benefit.

Weird, my experience has been that EVs are much quieter and that's a real improvement in densely populated areas. Past a certain speed the main source of noise is the tires and then EVs aren't much better than ICE vehicles (wrt noise).

Im in a super dense area. Speed limit is really low. So tire noise is not that big of a factor and the WOOOOOOO of electric cars is prevalent over others. Obviously comparing apples to apples, a diesel truck is going to be super loud.

Oh man this does not resonate with me at all.

Motorbikes, trucks and cars make up the majority of noise where I live.

The teslas/BYDs pass without you noticing them.

One bike with a straight pipe though, more noise than the suburb's worth of traffic localised to wherever they inflict themselves.

They’re a benefit to the lives they’re attempting to save.

You’re objectively wrong about the nose but it could be that the sound is particularly annoying to you for some reason, or that your brain has not yet been conditioned to automatically tune it out like it has with ICE engines.

Since there's anecdotal debate against your comment, here are some sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90774779/heres-what-science-says... (2022)

> On average, cars moving at around 30 mph on local roads will produce sound levels ranging from 33 to 69 decibels.

> To ensure that pedestrians will hear electric and hybrid vehicles coming, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires these vehicles to emit sounds ranging from 43 to 64 decibels when they are moving at less than 18.6 mph.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S24685... (2025)

> Electric vehicles (EVs) are effective in reducing noise levels, primarily at low speeds and frequencies.

> at speeds over 50 km/h, EVs do not contribute significantly to noise reduction

https://carconfections.com/all-car-confections-sound-level-r... (2026, comparing 527 models at 55mph)

https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/399523477... (2025)

> Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS)

> Results align with previous findings that EVs and ICEs exhibit similar noise levels at low speeds, particularly post-AVAS implementation. Earlier studies reported larger differences (3–4 dB lower for EVs than ICEs at 10–20 km/h), likely due to the absence of AVAS

> Additionally, a deeper investigation of how AVAS contributes to annoyance could inform improved design standards for EV noise emission, encouraging a balance between functional safety and acoustic quality in urban environments.

I seriously hope we get to a point where loud vehicles are outright banned. Tire noise is one thing, making your exhaust loud is intentional.

And the lights! Don't forget the lights.

me too.

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