This thread could go on forever to no avail, I am not going to be drawn int=
o
anymore "nit picking"
I have already said, we should agree to disagree. Let us get onto something
else appertaining to nature recording.
Martyn
****************************************
Martyn Stewart
Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
http://www.naturesound.org
Redmond. Washington. USA
N47.65543 W121.98428
e-mail:
Tel: 425-898-0462
Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!
*****************************************
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Mike
Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 8:14 AM
To:
Subject: [Nature Recordists] Ethics of Using Recordings on Wildlife
> It is not my interest as to how much profit a tour operator makes at the
end
> of the day, I have seen too much damage done to the targeted bird.
> They are mostly there to make a quick buck.
And if he can't make a profit as a tour operator to feed his family I guess
he should just
return to logging or the pet trade to accomplish this. What happened to
trying to promote
preserving the forests by encouraging eco-tourism ? In my eyes what damage=
,
if any, is
caused by recordings pales in comparison to other threats.
> Why do you think playback is banned in National parks and around
endangered
> species?
Not really sure, and didn't know it was. Been with a few professors who
have used
recordings in National Parks. Hunting and feeding of wildlife are also
banned but perfectly
acceptable outside of the parks.=20
> It was maybe acceptable a few years ago but now there are armies of peopl=
e
> equipped with iPods alike playing the dam songs everywhere.
I have been taking photographs of birds for the last few years and use call=
s
from time to
time to get them close enough. In all the years of doing this I have never
ever seen
anyone else using recordings... ever.
> I have seen birds stressed out because of this and in David Sibley's own
> words, there are Bird Watchers and Birders, Bird Watchers care less of th=
e
> environment, Birders are Ornithologists, two entirely different people.
I have spoken with a couple nationally known Ornithologists and some top
naturalists.=20
Not one has told me it is harmful to the bird. (On the other hand I have
spoken with
several avid bird watchers who claim it is very harmful) One of the
Ornithologist is a bird
Psychologist who studies the effect of recordings on birds and I asked him
about the harm
of recordings after one of his lectures I attended. He told me not to worr=
y
as it has very
little impact, if any. He did say he would advise exercising a little more
restraint around a
rare sighting as the bird could be subjected to repeated attempts which
might cause the
bird to leave the vicinity.
>
> I am a conservation chair for the local Audubon society here in
Washington,
> 50% could not give a dam as long as they have their bird on their life
> list...
If this is true then one could assume it is the same for most other Audubon
groups. I
wonder how the Audubon and other groups could manage on 50% less funds if i=
t
were not
for this group of people that you seem to hold in disdain ?
As with anything there will be different standards applied by different
people as to what is
acceptable and what crosses the line. As a group one must tolerate some
behavior that
one might feel is unacceptable or they risk losing what they may find
acceptable.
I have noticed that most of the birders that object to using calls have
never used them.=20
Objections I hear are that it causes the bird to quit feeding to run off th=
e
intruder. I have
had several enjoyable hours of being able to watch birds forage and catch
insects that
responded to my recordings.
Another objection is they will abandon their young to force an intruder out
causing the
young to miss crucial feeding. Again I have observed birds that have
responded to my
calls gather a beak full of insects and leave for a few minutes before
returning. I only can
assume since they did not eat the insects they were probably being taken to
a nest or
mate.
I have also observed that birds learn to ignore the recordings after a few
repeated
attempts. I have noticed that using a recording on a particular bird on
consectuive
weekends results in fewer chances to photograph him. The first time result=
s
in the most
productive time of as much as a half-hour maybe. The following weekend I
noticed a
decline and by the third weekend the bird may make a quick showing of a
minute at most
if I am lucky. I would assume it would be the rare bird that would be
forced from an
established territory by an unseen adversary.
I would appreciate anyone that can point me to some studies or scientific
papers that have
been written on the harm of using recordings on wildlife and the effects it
might have on
their behavior. I am always interested in learning more on this subject.
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
Yahoo! Groups Links
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