To answer Alistair's question, I have ticked over 800 worldwide species,
never used a playback, and most of my birding has been done in US woodlands
and the Neotropics, where foliage is thick and skulkers abundant. I have
pished a few times, but like Carl, without great success -- though Common
Yellowthroats seem to be interested.
To elaborate on my earlier comments regarding stress, while the playback may
not cause stress a bird encounter in a typical day ("may" being the
operative word), the idea is that you are unnecessarily (from the bird's
point of view) adding a source of stress to the bird during his/her day.
This has been a great thread, very interesting comments, a good deal to mull
-- thanks to Graham for kicking it off!
Douglas Carver
Albuquerque, NM
USA
On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 5:32 AM, Rosemary Royle <
> wrote:
> Yes, I think Australia is possibly lucky in having relatively few real
> skulkers.
>
> This is not the case in, for example, South America where the various
> rainforest skulkers, especially tapaculos are extremely hard to see without
> tapes and even then are certainly not guaranteed.
>
> We rarely use tapes ourselves (actually we did try once in Australia for
> Southern Emu Wren bit it didn't work!) but if you go on any kind of birding
> trip with a guide he/she will undoubtedly use them - after all, he needs to
> be seen to be trying as hard as possible to "get" the bird for the group and
> the time pressure is often severe.
>
> This was particularly true in Madagascar where in one location we simply
> walked from one known territory to another and the guides either played a
> tape, or more usually whistled the bird in. And they obediently appeared.
> The guides do this virtually every day, sometimes several times a day,
> during the breeding season. This was very unsatisfactory birdwatching for us
> - we could probably have seen most of the birds without calling then if we
> had been there longer - but of course we did not have enough time and the
> guides want their tips.
>
> It would be very interesting to know whether these birds - and these are
> endangered rare birds - breed successfully. It may be that even if they do
> not, the sacrifice is worth it, as, while the local guides are earning good
> money, the remaining forest is less likely to be chopped down. Habitat
> destruction is far more dangerous than a few over-enthusiastic guides.
>
> In the USA using tapes is prohibited in a lot of parks and reserves - I am
> not sure what the exact reasons for this are. May be just that any
> disturbance should be avoided. However, it seems like a pretty good idea to
> me - there is nothing worse then bird-watching quietly by yourself when a
> group comes crashing along the trail and immediately starts up the tape
> recorder (or IPOD nowadays). And the ridiculous situations which can arise
> when various groups are all trying to call owls can be farcical.
>
> Rosemary Royle
> Wales, UK
>
>
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