[obol] Re: Use of Playback
- From: Craig Miller <gismiller@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:41:41 -0700
I sort of started the conversation, so I suppose I ought to make a comment or
two about it. I appreciate, and pretty much agree with most of what people are
saying.
That said, I would like to point out that my comments applied to a very narrow,
and I think straightforward caveat that most commenters have made about when
NOT to use playback. To wit, NOW is breeding season for Boreal Owls, Boreal
Owls are relatively rare in Oregon, if a Boreal Owl location is given out to
OBOL and other listserves, it is likely that more than a few people would go
looking for the owl, and likely play tapes. At least one or two "bad apples"
are likely to push playback past the bounds of propriety.
So, this particular situation pretty much fits into Paul Sullivan's, Dave
Lauten's, Joel Geier's, etc, caveats about potentially disturbing sensitive
species using playback. The safest course is to keep Boreal Owl locations to
yourself during their breeding season.
Cheers,
Craig Miller
Bend, OR
Sent from my iPad
> On Mar 10, 2015, at 10:23 AM, DJ Lauten and KACastelein
> <deweysage@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Bill, Paul, others,
>
> Paul, I agree with you. I think you said it well. I have worked with
> birds my whole life, I am a "bird scientist", and I for one have not been
> convinced much that playback has such a detrimental effect except when and
> where it is abused. I have always been a skeptic of the claims that it is
> so bad, don't do it. I have seen very little actual hard data to support
> this conclusion. With that said, I think it behooves us to be careful and
> thoughtful about when and where and what our actions are, really not
> different than photographing birds or the myriad other things we do with
> birds. Honestly, if you think playback is such a bad thing, you best stop
> driving, because driving is killing way more birds than playback ever will.
> And maybe so is bird feeding, or the windows in your house, etc etc etc. I
> find it a bit ironic also, because despite all this talk about using
> playback, it never ceases to amaze me how many times I see/hear people pull
> out their iphones and playback the bird call/song to attract a bird - in fact
> it happen just last week while we were looking for Pine Grosbeaks (and
> apparently no harm done) and it even was mentioned happening at the
> California Towhee in Brookings recently. I could rattle off a list of birds
> over the past year or two where I saw/heard this happen, and not once did
> anyone complain or tell someone to stop the action. Yet it seems when we
> get on OBOL, there is some sort of lecturing about it. And I don't even
> bird all that much! So I think there is a bit of a dichotomy going on, and
> I think that there is a rainbow of feelings and actions on the matter from
> those who are dead set against it, to those who liberally use it. And yet
> there is very little solid evidence that it is really all that detrimental.
> If I am wrong, I would be glad to be pointed to the published literature on
> this matter. Yes, there may be a handful of papers, but there is not a mass
> of them and I think the evidence is suspect and/or limited. This is not an
> endorsement of using playback. As I said above, like most things we do,
> moderation is the key, and we need to be sensitive and thoughtful about our
> actions. I think Paul did a good job of summarizing the reality. We have
> brains, use them appropriately.
>
> Now, it may be that some people right now are thinking, 'whoa, the moderator
> chimed in on this topic but did not kill it'. Frankly, I do think this
> topic is perfectly fine to discuss on OBOL. If not OBOL, where? Not
> everyone reads Birding magazine or any of the other birding magazines.
> Where are novices and even experts going to learn and discuss matters? That
> is what we are here for. With that said, the topic does not need to be
> acrimonious or nasty, and there is no reason to point fingers or bark at
> anyone. Paul and Joel posted thoughtful, nice comments on this matter. We
> all have the ability to be that way.
>
> My two cents, for what that is worth.....
>
> Cheers
> Dave Lauten
>
>
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