I've heard this debated by many birders at many levels. Many pros and cons have been argued. It is worthy of more research in to what if any negative or positive impact playback has on individual birds, bird populations, bird conservation & funding. Ecotourism in general has pros and cons but researchers have to be willing to do the research to find out what human impacts have on wildlife.
Certainly one should adhere to some kind of guidelines regarding playback. I'm including links to several articles that outline this debate and propose such guidelines. I know playback has been used as a teaching tool for decades. Mobbing & chickadee tapes in addition to a stuffed owl were used on most of the graduate level Ornithology (in North Carolina) field trips when I was a student in 1990. Instructors usually give playback guidelines. As far as SFO (Spring Field Ornithology) playback is used very infrequently. Most field trips it is used not at all and the times it is used averages perhaps just a couple minutes total per trip. So fear not, playback used very conservatively in SFO in my opinion as a former student. I attended every SFO trip possible from 2008-2011 including all the full weekend trips. I'm glad someone reminds us all to be mindful about playback. I consider myself a moderate on the issue as I see definite pros and potential cons for the birds. Looking forward to research that gives us more answers. I'd be willing to help conduct any such research if anyone is brave enough to want to find out the truth and there were funders. :-) Surely someone must be working on this already? http://10000birds.com/playback-of-bird-calls-benefits-some-birds.htm http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/04/the-proper-use-of-playback-in-birding/ http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~smithsm/Impact%20of%20Playback%20on%20Birds.pdf Sent from my iPhone On Apr 8, 2012, at 9:36 AM, John and Sue Gregoire < > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
