Hi all, I'm very glad that John Confer weighed in with a scientist's perspective on the use of playback, as this perspective is rarely heard in this oft-debated topic. I agree with John completely that the use of playback to attract birds, even during the breeding season, has little if any lasting effect on individual birds -- In fact I know of no documented case in which the reproductive success or survival of an individual bird, or a local population of birds, was harmed through the use of playback. Even in "famous" cases like the Elegant Trogons or highly sought owls of Arizona, all of these populations have remained stable (as long as the habitat was protected) or expanded their distributions over the years, despite 40+ years of intense birding "pressure."
As John pointed out, compared with everything from rampant habitat loss and the proliferation of tall structures to simply living and working in buildings with glass windows and driving a car, the impact of playback on bird populations is minuscule, and as a conservation issue it does not even register. On the other hand, the positive value that judicious use of playback has for bird-monitoring and scientific study (as in John's lifelong work to conserve Golden-winged Warblers), or for folks like Marie Read to obtain breathtaking photographs that can inspire millions of people to care about birds, or for tour leaders and educators to share close-up views of birds with their audiences, and yes, to enhance our personal enjoyment of birds and birding, is clearly measurable and in my opinion far outweighs the temporary perceived annoyance it may cause to the birds. As with any ethical question, this one comes down to a matter of personal choice. Some may choose not to use playback while birding, and some may truly dislike the use of playback by others -- and this should be respected in heavily birded areas -- but please do not evoke scientific or conservation grounds for criticizing or judging the behavior of fellow birders. good birding, KEN Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On May 12, 2014, at 12:10 PM, Marie P. Read <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Excellent discussion on the use of playbacks…I'd like to weigh in… Full disclosure: I regularly use playbacks in my photography work, and have done for many years. Certainly my use has temporarily taken various individual birds away from their primary focus of finding enough food for themselves and defending territories etc. But, like John Confer, I am of the opinion that judicious use probably has little long term effect. BUT…playing the call/song should be kept to a minimum. One of the most important things I tell people when the topic of playbacks comes up for use in bird photography, is that it's important to know when to turn off the playback. And the answer is sooner rather than later. The bird will quickly go back to its normal behavior after the playback stops, and that's what photographers want (or should want, anyway): to photograph NATURAL behavior. If the playback continues, the bird becomes agitated and any student of bird behavior will be able to tell that from the image(s). If you see photos of male birds fluttering their wings, leaning down, gaping at the viewer, then the call is being used too much…that is a stressed bird. Maybe surprisingly, such photos have occasionally won contests because people don't realize what is going on, and certainly such photos are very dramatic and eye-catching. I once watched two photographers in FLorida playing a playback over and over again (for hours actually) to force a hapless Barred Owl to fly back and forth over a road so they could take photos of it in flight. At first I was compelled to join in…wow!...such an "easy" subject... but after a while I became sickened by the whole affair and left. This was a bird that is well known to photographers in FL, so gets visited constantly to "perform", year after year. A similar issue arrises with rare birds like the Elegant Trogons in Arizona (yes?)…until the use of playbacks was banned they were visited again and again. It's this repeated bugging of a bird by many groups of people that we want to avoid. Brief, occasional playbacks should not be too much of a problem, in my opinion.. Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://www.marieread.com Author of Sierra Wings: Birds of the Mono Lake Basin Available here: http://marieread.photoshelter.com/gallery/Sierra-Wings-Birds-of-the-Mono-Lake-Basin/G0000NlCxX37uTzE ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of John Confer [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 11:33 AM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] playback tapes Steve raised a concern about the use of audio playback for personal gain, not related to scientific study. I think it is important to think of the consequences of our activities on wildlife, and I appreciate Steve raising this concern. I did 34 years of field study of Golden-winged Warblers, more than half of it requiring the capture and banding of birds with individual markers, without which the research data could not have been obtained. I have probably had more hours of field experience, probably hundreds of hours, using playing audio calls to attract birds into nets than anyone in this community. I intensively played audios back to catch some individual males. I was willing to accept some bird fatality to obtain the data that can be used for the conservation of the entire species. That seemed a fair trade. I do recall 3 or 4 nests where nest checking caused mortality. I do recall banding that caused perhaps two fatalities. I DO NOT RECALL ANY BIRD THAT ABANDONED ITS NEST, LOST A MATE OF AN ESTABLISHED PAIR, OR DESERTED A TERRITORY OUT OF A THOUSAND ATTEMPTS TO CATCH AND BAND A BIRD USING AUDIO PLAYBACK. My work involved relating nesting success to environmental factors and I did everything reasonable to reduce the chances that my activities would harm the birds……... -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
