One more from me on this subject. I have seen posts talking about the ABA code of ethics and stating its super clear. I wanted to provide some food for thought.

ABA code of ethics says:
"To avoid stressing birds or exposing them to danger, exercise restraint and caution during observation, photography, sound recording, or filming."

"Limit the use of recordings and other methods of attracting birds, and never use such methods in heavily birded areas, or for attracting any species that is Threatened, Endangered, or of Special Concern, or is rare in your local area."

As many posters have said, it is difficult to define what "limiting" or what the exact levels of stress is . Some people also take the notion that since we can't define it, better to avoid any use. That's one approach, but drastic and would mean some major alterations in some areas of birding. Without playback of calls (and its the same if you happen to do it yourself and not use a e-device) would mean few nocturnal owls would be detected outside of mating season when they often call on their own. As we come up on the CBC season, most counts have owlers that go out and call for owls. I don't know what the levels are for disturbance and likely varies by each situation and species. As posts have shown its not an easy question.

Two other things to think about are:

1. Pishing is also meant to elicit a response from a bird, probably causes some stress. Most birders use it in some form (I use it frequently). It should probably also fall in this same discussion, not just playback devices.

2.ABA says "or for attracting any species that is Threatened, Endangered, or of Special Concern, or is rare in your local area". We know what Threatened and Endangered species are. However, species of special concern or rare is harder to define. Since most of us live in Washington, for the sake of argument, I'm going to use WDFW definitions for species of concern. WDFW defines species of concern as:
"Species of Concern in Washington include those species listed as State Endangered, State Threatened, State Sensitive, or State Candidate, as well as species listed or proposed for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service."

We all know about the spotted owl being endangered, but here is a list of species that qualify under that definition that people might use Ipods to call them in. Does this mean we should not use playback for these species? I don't know if we should or should not, but do want people to be aware of information when we start talking about this. In general, I don't think we'll ever come to a conclusion on this. Many will police themselves and for others that don't, managers on public lands will need to make rules for their lands that they think fit the welfare of birds the best.

Black-backed woodpecker-State Candidate

Flammulated Owl-State Candidate

Lewis's Woodpecker-State Candidate

Loggerhead Shrike-State Candidate

Oregon Vesper Sparrow(Westside prairies form)-State Candidate

Pileated Woodpecker-State Candidate

Sage Sparrow-State Candidate

Sage Thrasher-State Candidate

White-headed woodpecker-State Candidate



Scott Downes

downess at charter.net

Yakima WA