VA Birders,
Hoping to get in under the wire.....
Most birders who have using pishing to bring a bird out into the open
find few rewards for their efforts on frequently birded trails. Birds
do become accustomed to the sound of human pishing and no longer
respond. The reality is that birds respond only when they perceive the
sound to be an alarm call and, of course, that disturbs them. That is
the idea. The only birds that "pish up" are the birds that are
disturbed. Even though it's true that birds respond to many
disturbances from the natural world every day and need to be constantly
alert and wary to survive, do we really want to add to that burden?
The rules of the North American Breeding Bird Survey conducted by the
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center require a passive approach. To
quote from the instructions: "ABSOLUTELY NO METHOD OF COAXING BIRDS
SHOULD BE USED under any circumstances during the 3-minute counting
periods. This means no "spishing" or tape playbacks or any other
method."
My own view is never to use artificial devices of any kind, never to
pish in breeding season, and to pish only infrequently in migration and
winter. I believe the passive approach is the correct one, and
accordingly, have never liked using group flushing methods to scare
sparrows out of the grasses in fall, as an example. I believe it is a
privilege to enter a bird's world, appreciate their beauty, and gain
insights into their feeding, nesting, and migratory habits. I try to
be as unintrusive as possible and think passive birding is the way to
go.
Paula Sullivan
Alexandria
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