As a reader of this listserv I feel compelled to respond to the comments by Ben Warner. The 'witch hunt' and 'berating' comments were inflammatory and unnecessary. I have witnessed on this listserv a tendency of people hauling out the flamethrowers when they react strongly to a posted comment, and this, in part, is why I rarely post. The comments made by Marie seemed tactful enough to me. She did post the direct question first, 'are you using tapes' so I assume she got an affirmative response. In any case, people should be allowed to post tactful opinions without being shot down by others. Let's chill out here, shall we?
Karen
----- Original Message ----
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2008 9:14:20 AM
Subject: No Sighting . Re: Sound recordings for birds- ethics
to whom it may concern:
It sounds as if you are on some sort of bad birder witch hunt here, none of the Black Rail reports mention or even suggest the use of tapes. Why should it need to be reported to the listserve whether they were taped in or not? So you can berate them? I don't know, it just bothers me that you would come out asking this question when their posts are detailed and do not reflect any harrassment of the birds in question. Granted, recordings are controversial, and proper ethical, wise (bird behavior based) use of them should be practiced. So it is for this reason I post this response to the entire list here, I wish to clarify some of the issues and hopefully prevent harassment of the birds.
Here is a quote from birdjam's (formerly birdpod) website about the ethics of using bird recordings on birds.
"As many of you are taking your birdJam iPods into the field, we wanted to provide you some recommendations for effectively and responsibly using your birdJam outdoors. Although we continue to poll experts about the issue of attracting birds with recordings (digital, CDs, tapes or records), pishing, whistling and whistles, etc., we are not aware of a definitive scientific study of the impact on birds.
That being said, we strongly believe that you should
(1) be considerate of other birders, and
(2) that you should treat the birds as you wish to be treated.
Imagine if someone kept ringing your doorbell, and you went to answer it and there was no one there. After a while you might start to ignore the bell, and that would be lamentable if it was Ed McMahon with a huge check, or disastrous if it was the fire department telling you the house is on fire.
When you are with a group of birders and want to use your birdJam iPod with a speaker to ID or call in birds, always ask first if anyone would mind. Whether you are a trip leader or participant, before playing the song you should alert interested people so they can help by scanning for the bird. When you're in the field, play the songs the minimum amount.
If you do not get a response, don't keep playing it over and over. Move on and let the birds get on with their lives. As your skills develop, you'll have a better understanding of which birds are simply migrating through so will be unlikely to respond to a territorial call, and which may be more responsive.
If you do get a response from a bird (coming closer, within view or chipping loudly), pause your iPod and use your birding skills to try see the bird without disturbing it further. This is especially important during the breeding season when you might get both male and female birds agitated and away from the nest. That's when predators, competitors and cowbirds would have an opportunity to find the nest unguarded.
Stop, listen and watch even if you don't get a vocal or visible response. Have your fellow birders look in other directions rather than everyone looking in the direction from which you originally heard the bird. Many birds circle around an intruder to try to triangulate its location. When they do this they may not make any sound and very little movement, so they may slip past you undetected. At this point, it is up to you to find it.
Some birders using playback keep on playing the songs until the bird lands right in front of them. We believe that's going too far."
Also you can check the OBBA II's website about using recordings in the field., I believe they have it posted somewhere there, I know its in the handbook for volunteers. but here it is specified "that recordings should not be used on endangered, threatened (state or federally) or very rare birds unless you have proper permits"
So that is what I agree with in general, I do use recordings occaisionally for birds (Usually when I'm with a large group who have mostly never seen the bird in question before) and I always discontinue their use once I have any sort of response from the bird or once a short time has passed (less than a minute) with no response. This to me makes sense and is more kind to the birds, but still it is messing with them a bit and I usually don't like to use the method. I hope that helps clear up some of the ethics involved, sorry to clog up the listserve, but I thought it should be addressed again. Bird song recording use can be a helpful tool for scientists who have no other way of confirming a bird species as being a nester or as a way to lure them in, but this use should be reserved for scientific data (like the OBBA II) and should be limited in use for our own personal satisfaction, In my opinion. - Cheers and good birding,
- Ben Warner.
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Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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