[mou] Pishing (or is it spishing)

[Steve Weston]

Anybody who birds with me, knows that I frequently pish occasionally with 
excellant results.  I feel that I have had some excellant conversations. 
Obviously some birds species respond and others could give a d...m.  The 
chickadees are best known for their responsiveness.  I believe that most 
times of the year, if there is a chickadee within a quarter of a mile, it 
will check you out.  I have pished whole flocks of thirty and more out of 
the brush.  Once I held my hand out and pished a chickadee right onto my 
hand.  Other bird groups that are strongly responsive are the warblers, 
nuthatches, finches, sparrows, wrens, and gnatcatchers.  I once walked up to 
a bush and pished from about ten feet away.  A song sparrow flew out heading 
straight for the sound and my face, veering off course at about three feet 
and heading back into the bush.  A second set of pishing and he flew half 
way out and settled on the trail and stared.  I like to sit under a bush 
where I am all but hidden and pish.  One time I filled the bush with about a 
half dozen assorted warblers that were four to ten feet away.

While some species in a group are more reactive than others, I have found 
that the more reactive species groups almost always respond.  I have heard 
that pishing does not work in the tropics, but when I was down in Ecuador, I 
found that the warblers and sparrows were still very responsive.  But, they 
make up a much smaller percentage of the bird population.

Other birds are unresponsive.  I have never seen any reaction from a 
flycatcher or a shorebird.  Also I have had no response from any 
butterflies, but even though I try, I have never expected one.  One time I 
thought the woods were so quiet that an accipiter must be near.  I pished 
and a Cooper's Hawk flew by about 20 or 30 feet away.

I do make other sounds to attract birds.  A Screech Owl trill I found is 
successful in calling some birds, especially cavity nesters.  And a short 
low whistle will draw out some owls.  I have had Long-eared Owls and 
Great-horned Owls respond. Once a GHO flew just a couple of feet over my 
head.

Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pastor Al Schirmacher" <pastoral at princetonfreechurch.net>
To: <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>; <mou-net at moumn.org>; <wisbirdn at lawrence.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11:33 AM
Subject: [mou] Pishing (or is it spishing)


> How effective do you find pishing to be?
>
> Sometimes I think we pish just to keep ourselves busy while waiting for 
> the target bird to pop up - seems like we can go days without the desired 
> response - then there are days like today, when casual pishing drew in 
> Mourning, Golden-winged, Blue-winged, Chestnut-sided Warblers with little 
> effort (latter three in same tree).
>
> Which leads to the questions of:  How much should we pish?  Are there 
> times when pishing should be avoided?
>
> Wondering while working on Sunday's message about prayer,
>
> Al Schirmacher
> Princeton, MN
> Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties
>
>