birding-aus

Lewin's Rail, Bicent Park and Call Playback

To: Evan Beaver <>, birding-aus <>
Subject: Lewin's Rail, Bicent Park and Call Playback
From: Nikolas Haass <>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:01:30 -0800 (PST)
The Lewin's Rail could be a possible breeder at that location. So please DON'T 
bother it with playback and any other type of annoyance. Since there is a lot 
of exposed mud, it only takes a few minutes of patience and you will get great 
looks at a number of different rails (including 2 Lewin's) and crakes 
(Spotless)!

Cheers,

Nikolas

 ----------------
Nikolas Haass

Sydney, NSW



----- Original Message ----
From: Evan Beaver <>
To: birding-aus <>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:46:01 AM
Subject: Lewin's Rail, Bicent Park and Call Playback

Went with GT for a look at the Lewin's on Sunday morning, and,
possibly fortunately (see below), I dipped on the Rail, but had
cracking views of the Spotless Crake, a bird I'd only seen once
before, and very fleetingly. For a plain bird they're quite
interesting.

Did a quick lap around the northern end of the big lake and the bay,
turning up a Common Sandpiper and Striated Heron, along with the
normal Teals, Stilts and Avocets. Not a bad haul. An even quicker turn
around Mason park added Sharpies, Curlew Sandpiper and a lone Pacific
Golden Plover. No Pectorals, but we were moving pretty quickly.

Now, back to the Rail. As we've discussed here ad nauseum in the past,
everyone has their own list, and their own ethics/rules governing
their lists. I decided a long time ago that I would never use call
playback to attract a bird. Impersonating the call myself is okay, but
no recordings are permitted. Usually this is pretty easy to follow; I
almost always bird alone, so as long as I remember not to play calls I
should be okay. However, it gets a bit difficult when there other
birders around with different opinions for their lists. So on sunday I
was on the horns of a moral dilemna; others were using call playback,
could I tick the bird if it did show? I decided that no, this would be
cheating under my moral code. I'm not suggesting that everyone should
stop immediately; as stated before this is my PERSONAl code, and
no-one else is in any way obliged to take it seriously. However, if,
as I believe is the case with most birders, you don't want to
accidentally upset other people, there is a pretty good case for
asking for permission before playing a call in the pressence of other
birders. That's all really. I don't think there was any malicious
intent, just a meeting of moral codes. So, if you're the type who
likes a bit of playback with their birding, perhaps a quick "is this
okay" would be nice before launching into it?

EB

-- 
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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