Seattle's humming fish, and more

A mysterious droning noise that’s plaguing residents of Seattle may be the mating call of desperate male fish.

Seattle's humming fish

A mysterious humming noise that’s plaguing residents of Seattle may be the mating call of desperate male fish. Having ruled out factories as the source of the sound, scientists suggest that the droning is coming from male midshipman fish in the Duwamish River, amplified to audible levels by the resonant hulls of ships. Whatever the source, said resident Julie Schickling, the sound is maddening. “It gets high, and lower, and goes away, then comes back.”

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Cockatoo harassment in Rhode Island

A Rhode Island woman is in court charged with training her cockatoo to curse at her ex-husband and his new girlfriend, who live next door. Kathleen Melker and Craig Fontaine allege that next-door neighbor Lynne Taylor—Fontaine’s ex—trained her pet bird Willy to say the word “whore,” preceded by curse words, whenever Melker is visible. Melker says she and Fontaine are selling their house to escape the constant cockatoo harassment. “We have no quality of life,” she says. Taylor’s lawyer says Willy doesn’t curse, and merely repeats the phrase, “Knock it off.”