immitating bird noise

[Naturenutz]

Today while out walking i came across a lovely flock of long tailed tits with blue and great tits mixed in.They were twittering away as they moved along the hedgerow.I decided to make myself known by making a one syllable short whistle.The long tailed tits came to within 5ft of me,beautiful.Later on i heard a bird chirping from deep in a hedgerow.This was also a one syllable note,so again i whistled my dainty whistle and the bird immediately replied.This went on for a good few minutes until eventually he could not resist and came to the top of the hedge 5ft away,A hedge sparrow.The only trouble was my camera was at home as i was at work .Earlier this year on 3 or 4 accasions i have attracted distant buzzards to circle overhead by calling them in.I have also had tawny owls come very close while imitating them.I am going to experiment further . Mind you if you get caught by joe bloggs walking past you can get strange looks .

[tcvarlh]

Who cares what Mr Bloggs thinks, if you have the talent to entrance the birds then I wish you happiness with it. I have been calling birds and imitating animals since I was small. Now and again someone with me will stare amazed and captivated, and then tell his mates later in the pub about it. Next time I'm out I have a couple of newbies trying to learn.
All the fun you can find.
h

[aeshna5]

I've found in the states pishing is effective, but never had much luck with it over here.

When I was in Botswana recently our guide would imitate the call of a Pearl-spotted Owlet + it's amazing how many passerines came in to look. Infact each time we actually saw one of these small owls they were being mobbed as they take the young of small birds.

[Deb London]

I have done something similar whilst hidden in bushes in an open space in London. The Chiffchaff was giving out such a clear, sweet call that I couldn't resist imitating it. Worked a treat - I got a really clear close-up view. No idea if the dog-walker didn't see me or she was trying to ignore the 'wino in the woods'.

I have only a poor understanding of 'pishing'. Actually I thought it was 'phish'. So if you've seen a crazy person calling 'fish, fish, fish' quite loudly around a nature reserve, that might have been me.

[rossy]

i remember watching david attenboroughs life of birds, cant remember which bird exactly, but this could mimic a variety of noises, it did a photo being snapped, a chainsaw of men chopping trees, car alarms, other birds, absolutely amazing, but as you mimic birds here , they will come to investigate, as they might think its a rival. rossy.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by rossy

i remember watching david attenboroughs life of birds, cant remember which bird exactly, but this could mimic a variety of noises, it did a photo being snapped, a chainsaw of men chopping trees, car alarms, other birds, absolutely amazing, but as you mimic birds here , they will come to investigate, as they might think its a rival. rossy.

Think it was a lyrebird Rossy:

YouTube - Lyrebird unbeleivable jungle bird mimic

I was in Barrow, near Clitheroe, watching waxwings a couple of weeks ago. There was a starling singing from an aerial that did superb mimics of a snipe's 'scaap' flushing call, a drake wigeon and a curlew!

A rabbit distress call works very well for calling all manner of birds - passerines, corvids, it's even worked on waders on occasion! I make the sound by sucking the palm of my hand - this is the sound to aim for:

http://www.varmintal.com/weems.mp3

Cheers
Jonathan

[rossy]

yes bang on jonathan, with the lyrebird, now that can mimic, amazing. rossy.

[Dogghound]

I have loads of bird recordings on my phone, if I hear something I often play its call, most of the time they come to investigate. Ive had birds like firecrest and yellow browed warbler come within 2 meters of me to investigate.

We also use CDs when bird ringing the calls and songs on the CDs draw birds to the nets.

Never had any lucky mimicing birds myself though.

[Naturenutz]

The buzzard call i have tried works a treat.Its long drawn out whistle,starting fairly high pitched and descending as if your losing your breath.Its quite easy to immitate as its just a drawn out single note.It works great when you are in woodland and you can hear them in the distance.I dont use the fingers to mouth technique either,just a normal whistle starting sharp and loud and descending.Ive had them circling overhead for near on an hour but have yet to tempt them to come down and investigate.Its the mewing note they make when circling,just stay hidden in the woodland and they will investigate
Also this year i found a family of sparrowhawks spread out in the tree tops .I tried to imitate them but found them much harder and had no dice with them at all .,Ive never heard the rabbit distress call,maybe thats the next one i shall try.

[Jim Ford]

I'll bet none of you callow youths remember Percy Edwards!

Percy Edwards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jim