The majestic call of the loon is unmistakable, and Michael Kedor heard it in a most unusual place.

Kedor was passing through Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when he heard the yodel of the state bird echoing through the baggage claim area, just before a carousel started to turn.

"This is something very Minnesota and local," the Minneapolis resident said. "Clever, and better than another alarm."

While obnoxious buzzers sound at many airports across the country to audibly warn travelers when a carousel is about to start up, eight bird sounds — loons, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays and even snowbirds in a nod to those who spend the coldest months in warmer climates — play in rotation over the sound system at MSP to announce that luggage will soon arrive. In concert, colorful scenes replicating the northern lights dance on a video screen while lights on the ceiling imitate a water reflection.

New bigger and quieter carousels with the pleasing sound and light alerts have been phased in since 2019, when the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which owns and operates the airport, embarked on a $525 million effort to give the main terminal a massive upgrade. As the project is set to come to an end this year, travelers like Kedor are just starting to notice.

"Apparently I had not been paying attention," he said in an interview. Other travelers who posted about the sounds on the social media site Reddit also said they were just noticing, too.

First-generation baggage carousels at MSP have been replaced as part of a $525 million redo of the airport.

Terminal 1 at MSP opened in 1962 and was one of the first in the nation to have moving carousels, said Alan Howell, the airport's development director. The small round carousels brought innovation to baggage claim at the time, and 60 years later, "we get that opportunity again." Howell said.

The MAC teamed with Minneapolis-based Emmy Award-winning sound designer and post-audio engineer Taylor Lewin to gather bird calls. Lewin spent about a year taking his microphone across Minnesota's farm fields and the north woods near Two Harbors to collect audio. Lewin was hooked up with the MAC through Youa Vang, who formerly was connected to the Arts@MSP program

"It was a fun challenge," he said. "I learned a lot about birds in the process."

Lewin and the MAC worked with the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology's sound lab to come up with the final recordings, some of which are meant to create "the feeling of movement around the carousel," Lewin said.

New marble floors that are easier to clean and for passengers to roll luggage, bigger wayfinding signs and an overall expanded brighter airy space have been added to the baggage claim spanning 930 feet in length. And the airport's luggage-delivery system has been upgraded, too. Tag readers are able to communicate with sign boards to notify passengers in real time if their bags have been moved to a different carousel than the one originally assigned, Howell said

As for the bird calls, which might arrive at Terminal 2 as part of an expansion project there, they seem to be resonating with travelers.

"It's personalized for here," Kedor said. "You know where you are."

Hear some of the nature calls yourself: