From: "Barb Beck" <>
> Sorry Walt I must disagree from personal observation. I am certainly have
> not caught the Bambi syndrome. I butterfly and take specimens for scienti=
sts
> studying what we have part of a Bambi is in the freezer. I also think tha=
t
> Bambi and his related species occupy far too much of too many of our
> National Parks and should be dealt with. This is not based on what I thin=
k
> the bird is thinking but how it acts.
The Bambi syndrome applies to far more than just the four legged
Bambi's. The attributing of emotions to any kind of animal is what I mean.
> When taped calls are used in a birds territory we frequently get a very v=
ery
> unnatural sounding response of a very highly agitated bird. Not the usual
> response you get when a bird encroaches on the edge of the territory.
> At the start when I was ignorant I used taped calls some and was very
> unhappy with the results. Yes I got the bird and a loud recording but the
> only recordings which really sounded natural were those taken quite a whi=
le
> after the tape harassment when the bird had calmed down somewhat.
On this note, let's look at what bird recordist's consider natural
calls. For the most part bird recordists record the unprovoked
territorial calls of the males. The poor male is on this endless
treadmill grinding his way from call perch to call perch, carefully
giving out this grammatically correct song since the ladies will only
play with him if his grammar and presentation is high class and cultured.
Now, when he's actually dealing with a deliberate attempt to slice off
part of his territory, his calls are quite different. Given in a highly
agitated state, often while rushing through the area chasing the
intruder. Cussing, swearing, often poor grammar, and dire threats, these
calls are just as natural for the bird as the refined ones for the ladies.
Some of the heavy representation of the refined calls and poor
representation of the intruder removal calls has to do with the fact
that the removal calls often involve a active, agitated bird who's
moving around a lot. It's much easier for a nature recordist to record
the refined calls, where the bird usually calls from a dedicated calling
perch. One which is to see and be seen, often the most exposed locations
in his territory. Particularly for those that use mic stands, or mics
that are too cumbersome to carry easily, it's hard to follow the
agitated bird and get a good recording.
I think another part of the bias toward the refined song is that these
tend to simply be more musical, they sound better to us.
I tend to be very sparing about using the word unnatural about any
animal behavior. We may simply have biases or fail to understand how it
fits.
> Personal observation of a Ovenbird which we stupidly called when we knew =
no
> better taught me of the dangers. It was late in the season and we wanted =
to
> tally the bird we were in a stupid contest with others to see how many
> species we could find. We knew from previous work that there had been a
> bird calling in the aspen to the east of the car but had not heard him on
> that day. We blasted away - the bird immediately shot over the road -
> landed on a dead sprig of a tree in a cow pasture to the west of us and
> called in a very unnatural agitated song - exposing himself far away from
> cover all the time. We drove off and only came back by about 15 minutes
> later - the bird was still agitated - and still on the small twig of a tr=
ee
> in the cow pasture. He was using energy and time that at that point shoul=
d
> have been spent feeding young. This bird would not have gone into that op=
en
> habitat to drive off another of his species. You do not normally see thes=
e
> guys sitting up like that. We had caused the bird to expose himself in th=
e
> unnatural habitat to which he would not normally have ventured because we
> played the call. At least we learned from the lesson.
Yes, such contests are very stupid. Why does everything have to become a
contest? Such contests, with or without playback, will result in a lot
of harassment of birds. Just like the way that life lists have become
such a contest.
Note that a male bird in marking his territory deliberately chooses
places where he can see and be seen. These will often be far away from
cover. Part of the risks males take just to breed. He won't be very
successful at establishing and defending a territory cowering down in
the cover. The fact the bird stuck with the perch for 15 minutes after
you left says to me it's likely that this unlikely perch was one he was
very familiar with and used to mark the edge of his territory.
My wife also pointed out that you could have been within a few feet of
the nest and even without playback caused such behavior in a attempt to
lure you away from the nest. Just by being there.
The strong reaction indicates to me that the road was inside his territory.
> We have owls have been driven off because of repeated harassment with tap=
ed
> calls.
Or was it all the people tromping through the area?
> People like to use taped calls because it gets the males into unnatural o=
pen
> areas where they can be easily seen. I have a problem with that. But that
> being said I do not have a problem with taped calls where necessary like
> nocturnal owl surveys as long as they are used prudently and not repeated=
ly.
I think we are actually in agreement, I don't approve of a lot of the
birdwatching practice. I've been out with birdwatching groups that could
pass through a area will very little disturbance of the wildlife,
something I try to do in my work.
I think that playback per se is not the problem, the attitudes of a
certain class of birdwatcher is.
And, as I've already stated, if your purpose is to make natural
recordings then introducing playback without a lot of study of the area
is too much of a risk. You may not get natural calls, or at least not
the natural calls you have decided are normal. I'm not as gloom and doom
about how natural the calls may be however.
And for all bird recordists, get out there and document the calls of
naturally highly agitated birds. We need more of those recordings. If
your equipment and recording practice is not up to it, maybe time to
improve that.
As far as frogs, one of my ongoing projects is to document their
territorial threat calls. The calls to the ladies are well known in my
area, but many of the territorial calls are not known very well if at all.
Then there are the release calls, known in only a limited number of species=
.
Walt
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|