I'll have to admit that I feel slightly embarrassed whenever I use the term "pishing"--maybe just an indication that my mother and father raised me with good social sensibilities. Of course, birders know what it means. But how do you do it?

I've read about, heard about, and used various methods of producing pishing sounds. For instance,
kissing the back of the hand
sucking air against your teeth and inside of the lips
softly saying "Psss, psss, psss" or "Pssh, pssh, pssh"
Now, I'd appreciate hearing from other folks about how you do it, and about your degrees of success with various methods. Do any of you use the little Audubon squeakers, the little thingies that you turn inside a cylinder, maybe with some resin added? I'd appreciate comments, as well, about where you do it: Do you always hide in a clump of bushes, or do you stand where you're easily observed by the local birds, or what?

Finally, there has been some talk over the years about pishing being an American method, one that birders elsewhere don't know and--rather surprising, I think--that birds on other continents simply don't respond to pishing the way many American birds do. So I'd appreciate any notes you can give me about your experiences in this regard.

This is all in the name of research, and you're welcome to respond to me personally or--if you think this is of enough interest--to Tweeters in general.

Cheers and thanks,

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503