Editor’s Note: This story was initially revealed on April 7, 2023.
It’s Masters season, and that may solely imply one factor. That’s proper, it’s time to analyze the thriller of Augusta National Golf Club’s chicken music controversy.
Not accustomed to this case of (alleged) avian shenanigans? Here’s the lowdown. For years, rumors have claimed that the chicken music you hear within the background of Masters broadcasts is pretend. Despite a CBS spokesperson insisting that “the birds you hear are live and they are indigenous to Augusta,” many individuals stay skeptical.
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In a 2016 article, The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell weighed in on the scenario, claiming:
“There are no birds, squirrels, insects or any other living creature indigenous to planet earth at the Masters. Nowhere on the property. Well, okay, there must be some somewhere. But the Post’s Dave Sheinin and I made a multi-day quest for a single bird sighting. So far, none. Those bird calls that you sometimes hear on the Masters broadcast? The source remains undiscovered.”
A chicken walks alongside the sting of the golf green through the 2022 Masters. / Photo by Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Boswell and Sheinin aren’t the one reporters who’ve searched the grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club searching for birds. Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bamberger and Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan have additionally searched the property for any signal of avian exercise through the Masters Tournament. Both writers struggled to identify any birds, although Bamberger did ultimately discover one after it pooped on him whereas he was speaking to Bob Costas.
While this entire matter could appear foolish, the usage of synthetic chicken sound throughout golf occasions isn’t unprecedented. CBS even admitted to utilizing recorded chicken sounds on the 2000 PGA Championship. For ornithologists and birdwatchers (birders, to these within the know), the unreal birdsong was straightforward to establish.
So, what do the specialists must say concerning the chickadee and sparrow soundtrack on the Masters Tournament? As Cornell Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick instructed Slate in 2019, the birdsong he heard throughout 2015 and 2016 Masters broadcasts got here from “a pretty representative list of birds that are singing in the pine woods of central Georgia.”
Still, Fitzpatrick suspects that, whereas “the noise is definitely birds recorded there right on the grounds,” some “audio enhancement” could also be occurring. Curious birders might need to hold their ears perked for questionable tweets and chirps through the Masters this 12 months. For others, this unusual case of avian antics will in all probability simply stay a enjoyable matter to gossip about whereas watching golfers line up a shot.
