Well most people who try to call in birds with these gadgets do in fact
ignore ( or disbelieve) any effects on the birds. I'd suspect that
trying to stop this practice would be the same as saying you can't use
telescopes to get a better view of the birds, people with the equipment
will still do it. It's a bit like golf - any expense to get a better
result.
I'm not saying that bird call sounds don't have any adverse or some
other effects on birds, it's quite likely they do, but what are those
effects and how serious or otherwise are they? Again, I'd suggest that
no-one really knows and until some deleterious effects are proven no-one
is going to take the matter too seriously. We can speculate that
artificial bird calls have some adverse effects on nesting, mating, use
of suitable habitat, temporary or long term, but no-one really knows.
One thing that does seem certain though is that birds and other animals
( including humans) do in fact habituate quite rapidly to new sounds
provided they are not accompanied by physical dangers, or if they can't
habituate they move elsewhere, and I guess that's part of what worries
you. A personal example of this is the Kookaburras that have nested for
the last four seasons in my back garden. When we first moved in and
found them nesting they became a bit cagey about going near the nest
hole while we were anywhere near the tree. Nowadays we stand right
underneath the tree and the parents fly in and out without giving us a
glance - they seem to have learned that we represent no danger to them
and just ignore us. I know this isn't quite the same as playing
kookaburra recordings at them but it does show that their site loyalty
is more important to them than our presence which they've got used to.
BTW, I don't use recordings ( unless I'm with someone who does). With
some birds though I am able to mimic their calls successfully, that is
if success is measured by them responding to my whistlings by coming in
to investigate the sound, which they often do. After a while though
they seem to realise I'm not another bird and go their own way.
-----Original Message-----
From: Graham Turner
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 4:19 PM
To: Tony Russell
Subject: Fw: [Birding-Aus] speaker
So we're going to ignore any potential impacts then???
Graham
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