"pishing" and "squeaking" (1 Viewer)

[Sal]

I've never squeaked, but I shall certainly try it. In fact I have been sitting here in front of the computer whilst reading this thread, and practising. Luckily I am alone . . . . I find that I can make a more convincing and more highly pitched squeak using the back of my hand, but certainly the noise made by using the palm is very interesting and far more varied. My lips are now sore . . . . Pishing I have had mixed success with, it tends to work better with more sociable birds I find, what I use it for now is to get a bird to look at me if I want to take a pic. I do use calls - or at least the ones I can imitate. These work very well for certain species (or perhaps it is those who can actually recognise the call!) such as the black-headed oriole - they will come closer and their call sometimes becomes louder and more frequent.

 

[Michael W]

I have had good luck squeaking for both Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees. I've never really tried "pishing".

Michael

 

[Surreybirder]

I was watching a spotted flycatcher today when I noticed a very yellow Phylloscopus warbler (with a white belly). I was just beginning to think 'wood warbler' when a guy with a dog came up and started chatting. I couldn't really ignore him, so by the time we had discussed the weather I'd lost my warbler (and the flycatcher). So I tried a little 'squeaking' and almost at once a male blackcap appeared. It didn't show for long but I heard a long subsong after that which I'm fairly sure must have been the blackcap. That's the third time recently when a male blackcap has appeared when I've pished or squeaked (surely not just coincidence?) .
I'm sure that for pishing to be really effective you have to be standing in a concealed position or many birds take a quick look and then disappear.

 

[CJW]

I once saw Dr. John Raynes (once of the BBRC) 'pish out' a Melodious Warbler on the Scillies.
The best I've managed has been, as Michael pointed out, crests (both), tits, Robins and on one occasion, a Yellow-browed Warbler. Definitely works best, for me, in Autumn.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Interested to see that Michael doesn't find it works for Willow Warblers. Today I brought two in very close, as well as Goldcrests and a Chiff Chaff. As someone has suggested they don't hang around for long, but would you really expect them to once they see the cause of the noise? It certainly does work best for me when I can be reasonably well concealed.

I find it works best with warblers and tits. I am glad to see Michael has had results with Firecrests, they are fairly rare over here and only today I was musing on whether the technique would actually work with this species.

Stephen.

 

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Stephen,

In my (fairly limited!) experience, it works better on Firecrests than on Goldcrests. Not very many Firecrests up here, so I haven't tested it too often.

Of Willow/Chiffchaff, I should have perhaps said 'less effective' with Willow than Chiff - it does still work with Willow, just not so well.

The easiest of all UK species to attract is probably Long-tailed Tit.

Michael

 

[Surreybirder]

The easiest of all UK species to attract is probably Long-tailed Tit.

Michael

It may depend on your particular 'squeak', as I've found that great tits are often the first to respond.

 

[IanF]

Without doubt the most responsive species I have found is the Whitethroat - it never fails to investigate and remain quite close after inquiry.

I find the Warblers rather than the Tits are more responsive.

 

[Charles Harper]

Wish there were some way to analyze this more scientifically. Here, the Great Tits always answer first and foremost. Other avid respondents are White-eyes, Japanese Bush-Warblers, and Zitting Cisticolas in habitat. I don't get enough warblers to be able to rank them.

 

[Surreybirder]

I wish my memory was better. I know I've attracted other species abroad but I cannot remember for certain. I'm pretty sure about crested and willow tits and firecrest in Switzerland. And I think I called up a sedge/moustached warbler and a bluethroat in Cyprus. I should keep better notes!

 

[Surreybirder]

missing ref

Just by luck, I finally found the ref. to 'pishing' in British Birds.
I had a few minutes to spare and thought I'd have a quick look and it was in the first vol. I looked at.

March 1986, Volume 79 Number 3, p139

It's a letter by P William Smith, of Florida, who is basically recommending the technique to British birders and saying that, in his experience, it works well in many parts of the UK (contrary to what seems to have been popular opinion at the time).

I cannot quote much without infringing Mr(?) Smith's copyright, but he looks for a few 'seed' birds and then begins saying 'pish' loudly about 5 or 6 times over four seconds or so. 'My accent is on the "sh", and the sound is nearly continuous, with pauses of just a few milliseconds between "pishes".'
He speculates that it is effective because it is similar to birds' predator mobbing calls.

There is also a letter by M J Rogers, attributing St Francis's success at attracting animals to his pishing skills--so my memory was correct in that regard!

(For some strange reason the Editors of BB didn't include 'pishing' in the index for Vol 79, which explains why I couldn't find it when I first looked!)

 

[cjay]

It's never worked for me but does get the wierdo's out of the bushes

Colin J

 

[logos]

"I've heard numerous birders who think it is done by shouting 'PISH PISH PISH' and of course, they attract nothing."

This technique has worked for me very well in North America on many occasions though obviously the sound needs to be reduced as the birds approach closely. The sound itself is very similar to the alarm call of White-eyed Vireo amongst others and presumably other birds come to see what the fuss is about and to mob any predator.

Squeaking noises work better in the UK for me and are especially good at enticing acrocephalius warblers from deep cover. I once saw a weasel killing a young rabbit and the noise made by the rabbit sounded just like the squeaking noises made by birders - numerous Meadow Pipits appeared when the rabbit started to make noise and I guess they also came to mob the predator or at least keep an eye on it.

Standing out in full view when pishing etc doesn't seem a good idea as the birds can see you long before you can see them, pehaps this is why some peoples experiences have been poor.

Through pishing I've seen many many species in different parts of the world which I may not otherwise have seen and it's saved me miles of legwork.

Spud

 

[Phalarope]

I was taught to pish in a course for beginning birders. (At least one prominent North American birder prefers 'spish' because of an alternate meaning of pish--another activity often performed in bushes.)

I've demonstrated pishing (the birding meaning) to non-North American birders visiting the States, and on trips in South Africa. I get amused at the initial reactions of the birders, then their delight when birds start showing.

I don't use the kissing the hand routine. It interferes with binocular use. Instead, I just make a variety of mouth/lip sounds, usually in a lisping, whispering mode. The different sounds are used to attract different species and to keep them around a bit longer.

One sound is similar to the 'pssst' people use to attract the attention of another person. It is done in a sequence of 2, 3 or 4 repetitions, a pause, then more repetitions.

Another sound is "pea soup, pea soup, pea soup" in a harsh whisper.

Other variations are often effective. Find what works for you.

These sounds usually bring in chickadees and titmice, wrens, kinglets, nuthatches, cardinals, jays, small woodpeckers, and sometimes wood warblers. Other species may follow to learn what all the ruckus is about.

An additional use of the technique is in conjunction with owl calls. Here, in the midwestern U.S., an imitation of an Eastern Screech-owl (not a tape recording, but a human-generated sound) often attracts a small crowd of inquisitive, scolding birds. The owl sounds are alternated with pishing. The pishing is the imitation of scolding birds. The birds are attracted to the vicinity to join the 'mobbing' activity.

Even as I endorse pishing and imitating small owls, I urge that the technique be used sparingly, and not mindlessly as I have sometimes experienced when birders are exasperated with slow activity.

One last comment. A football coach at the University of Missouri known for his "ground game offense" once quipped that three things could result from a forward pass, and that two of them were bad. The same holds for pishing/owl imitation. The birds may be frightened away; they may suddenly become quiet, although they were vocalizing before; or, they may come close to investigate. That's when it is fun!

 

[Michael Frankis]

Following from Spud's comments, I've certainly had a fair deal of success in Britain by imitating the 'tick' of Robins, the 'tacc' call of Blackcap etc, and the 'tjrrrr' call of Dartford Warblers, all alarm calls used to mob predators.

So the predator-mobbing signal could well be the reason it works, but needs adapting to the differing commonest alarm sounds used by UK birds. Comes back to my earlier post about the more accurate the imitation of the call of the bird you want to attract, the better the success.

Those Audubon bird call gadgets are very effective too. Called up a Dusky Warbler very well with one a couple of years ago by sharp jerking the gadget to make a 'clack' sound.

Michael