Ethics of recorded bird calls
May 1st, 2012
I found
this
article to be a very informative guide on the ethics of bird call
playback. I'm heartened to hear that no research has shown damage to breeding
bird populations. My fear, that I might accidentally convince a bird to give
up and desert its nesting grounds, appears unfounded. It seems that the worst
that can happen is a breeding male can "lose face" with his neighbors and/or
mate--and only in the case of aggressive (loud and prolonged) playback, where
they will perceive him as the loser and the phantom rival as the winner.
I found this article to be a very informative guide on the ethics of bird call playback. I'm heartened to hear that no research has shown damage to breeding bird populations. My fear, that I might accidentally convince a bird to give up and desert its nesting grounds, appears unfounded. It seems that the worst that can happen is a breeding male can "lose face" with his neighbors and/or mate--and only in the case of aggressive (loud and prolonged) playback, where they will perceive him as the loser and the phantom rival as the winner.