I was told by local Australian bird guides that pishing is also
ineffective on that continent. While visiting Australia several years
ago, I pished a few times anyway and was indeed surprised that it did
not seem to have the usual desired effect.



Scott R
Yakima, WA
mryakima at gmail dot com







On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 10:39 PM, Paul Hicks <phicks at accessgrace.org> wrote:
> Tweets, in Spain my ?pish?ing was cause of amusement (irritation?) among the
> local experts, commenting that Americans don?t seem to realize the strategy
> doesn?t work in Europe. Now that they mention it, this is largely true ?the
> response was usually negligible. (I was slow to catch on.) I didn?t try
> Gary?s ploy (he?s hilarious!), though Andalucia can be quite arid so it
> would have been an interesting experiment. In the forest I did once try a
> pygmy owl toot (imitates Scops Owl) and drew in a curious Chaffinch. So
> along with the question why pishing can be effective, the other question:
> why is it NOT effective (eg with European passerines, and elsewhere now that
> I think about it (Hawaii, West Africa))? Perhaps if I read Pete Dunne?s
> book... Good birding!
> --Paul Hicks / phicks AT accessgrace.org
> ------------
> From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch AT yahoo.com>
> Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:35:38 -0800 (PST)
>
> Yes, pishing really helps bring out the birds. I tend to pish a lot, and use
> a lot of pygmy-owl whistles and other owl whistles, too, to get the little
> birds to show themselves. A number of years ago, I figured out another trick
> that would sometimes bring forth the shy passerines. It has a name that
> sounds quite a bit like the word "pishing," with only one letter's
> difference. When I used to live in Saudi Arabia, once in a while I would
> pause in my desert birding to relieve myself. Not every time, but sometimes,
> little passerines would come zipping over as soon as the desert silence was
> broken by the sound of liquid tinkling onto stone. I reckon it was just
> their quick reaction to the possibility of a drink in that terribly dry
> environment. This trick seems to have absolutely no bird-attracting effect
> here in sponge-wet Western Washington. Yours truly,
>
> Gary Bletsch garybletsch AT yahoo.com
>
> --------------
>
> There's a discussion going on now on the Oregon equivalent to Tweeters about
> how to do pishing and why it can sometimes be very effective in making more
> birds reveal themselves. I thought it would be interesting to share some of
> this information for those of you who'd like to learn more. I personally am
> incorporating pishing into my repertoire in appropriate situations, and have
> found that it can be quite effective, but I have a lot of refining to do for
> my technique!
>
>
>
> Mike Patterson on pishing, including a recording of some of his repertoire
> of sounds:
>
> http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/northcoastdiaries/17948/
>
>
>
> David Fix's very interesting post:
>
> http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/OBOL.html#1292097307
>
>
>
> I also have read the book "The Art of Pishing" by widely known author Pete
> Dunne, and I would highly recommend reading this book for those who want to
> learn even more (I got it from my local library, but of course one could
> purchase it thru the usual retailers). Included in this book is an
> instructional CD and a very nice discussion on ethical considerations for
> pishing.
>
> Good birding,
>
> Evan Houston
>
> Seattle, WA
>
>
>
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>