Customer Reviews

The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls (Book & Audio CD)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all "pishing" is making sounds to attract birds or wildlife. The sound has been likened to a distress call or a call note that birds use when identifying a threat. This has the effect of getting many birds of the area to collect around the source of the sound to the benefit of the person trying to spot and identify them.

I've been birding for 36 years and have been "pishing" for birds almost as long thanks to my mentor and one of Michigan's best birders, Doug McWhirter. Doug taught me how to pish and how to do the screech owl imitation just as Pete Dunne describes it in this book. Since I've done this for so many years I wanted to see if there were any new tricks in the book.

This is a short book, more like a manual with its' CD (90 pages in a small (6"x*8") size. It is readable and entertaining as anyone familiar with Pete Dunne's writing would know. He throws in lots of humorous examples in with the instructions. The book covers the advent of pishing in birding, the several types of pishing, when to employ the pish and when it will not be productive as well as ethical guidlines to pishing.

I was interested to learn the "knock down pish" something new to me. Despite excellent instructions I found that I am still not able to do Dunnes squeal and need more practice. I also found verification that grassland birds are hard to pish but may respond more to squeals and chip notes. The CD is very brief but has good examples of the sounds, pitches, and duration that are difficult to explain in type.

All in all a good little manual to help advance your birding skills

I've read in several field guides that cetain birds are "pishable", and quite frankly I never quite knew what that meant.

I got this book and CD just before going on vacation to PA. I knew I'd have the chance to see lots of new birds and several of those were considered pishable.

On my first day out birding in the Pocono's I tried the basic pish. And Wham! a Tufted Titmouse showed up. I kept pishing and a Black Capped Chickadee arrived. The Chickadee was so interested he flew out and nearly landed on my head. My kids were with me and they were quite impressed (they had been skeptical when we headed out). It was very satisfing to have my kids say "Mom, see if you can pish him out."

Not only did the birds respond to pishing but squirrels seem quite intrigued by it also.

This is a great find. I highly recommend it.

I received this book and went out birding the next day and tried pishing and it worked! The CD is excellent and the book is entertaining as well as informative. It takes practice to learn to do it well but it does get the birds' attention.

This book and CD provides all the needed information in a user friendly manner. One will definitely be an informed and able pisher after one or two reads/listens. The ethics of pishing are also covered, something the birds will appreciate. Finally, it is great fun! It is always good to hear Pete Dunne's voice (I have taken birding walks with him in Cape May). The book definitely improved my birding skills.

I was delighted when I received this book and continue to be more delighted as time goes on. I have been pishing for quite a number of years now and this little book, along with the CD that comes with it helped smooth my techniques, taught me a whole bunch that I did not know, and has added much to my birding...something I am quite passionate about.

Pishing is the art of attracting birds by mimicking bird calls. The call that you mimic is not that of the species you are trying to call in or call near you, but rather you are trying to mimic the call of a predatory bird, one that the birds fear. This, to be honest, if done correctly, will bring them close you your observation stand like nothing else will. You are learning these calls through instructions given by the author which are very good and quite precise and you are listening to the short CD to find out just what your call should sound like in the field.

Now some of these calls and techniques are not easy and require much practice. Others are quite simple and with little time spent you can become quite proficient at it.

I will tell you that in the past I have often used man made calls to pish with my favorite being that of the Barred Owl. I have found that Pete Dunne's method to be much more effective and a heck of a lot more fun. And speaking of fun...this is a fun book to read. The author's sense of humor and funny birding stories are worth the price of the book even if you never call up one single bird.

Recommend this one to any birder and to any birder that desires to add more birds to their list.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Pete Dunne teaches us how to Pish in this Book - I have seen many people pishing, but Pete refines the Art. It is funny, helpful, and historical. It is a useful tool and good reading. In addition, you get a CD you can listen too. It is a funny, pertinent, intelligent discussion of Pishing. Driving during one birding expedition, I played it for my birding group. The Group was thoroughly entertained and we got a lot of good laughs in the process; Pete Dunne is a good entertainer.

Pete Dunne is Editor of "New Jersey Audubon Magazine" and one of the top birders in the country. He writes wonderful short pieces for many publications and is the author of several excellent books on birding.

Pishing is easy to learn: purse your lips and make hissing "p" sounds. Dunne includes a useful CD. I used a small digital recorder and compared my sounds with the sounds of a master birder. With an additional bit of help from Shakespeare described below, my own pishing became much more effective.

It's not clear why pishing works. Dunne believes it arouses the natural curiosity of birds. It works better when birds are migrating, and better with certain types of birds, especially smaller ones. Chickadees, warblers, sparrows, nuthatches, robins and thrushes are particularly attracted in our area.

He writes about the origin of pishing: "What natural sound does 'Psssh' imitate? ... [I]f I had to guess, and since I've backed myself into this etymological corner I guess I do, I'd say that 'pish' or 'psssh' most closely resembles the raspy, rising scold of the Tufted Titmouse...."

Dunne believes that since Tufted Titmice are very curious, attracted to people and love to mob (or collect in large groups), people would have noticed them. Also, they are forest birds, where birds are harder to see, so people would try tricks to attract birds. Finally, since the technique works better in the northeast that in other parts of the country, it probably began with birders in the northeast forests trying to attract the Tufted Titmouse flocks.

(I personally wonder if titmice use "pish" to convey contempt, impatience, or disgust. Shakespeare used the word that way in "Henry V":

Nymph: "Pish."

Pistoll: "Pish for thee, Island dogge: thou prickeard cur of Island."

One thing is for sure: since I've read Dunne's book and remember the Nymph and Pistoll, my pishing seems to attract more birds.)

In this, as in all his writings, Dunne is clear, funny and very helpful.

*****

PS: Dunne was nice enough to respond to my email of my review: "Loved your review and your thoughts. St. Francis is still the world's first pisher. I never thought of W. Shak. as an understudy."

Robert C. Ross 2008

The Art of Pishing is an excellent source for learning how to attract birds by mimicking their alert/alarm calls. The humor in the book is a delightful surprise and kept me reading for the next one-liner. At the same time the author clearly explains how to "pish". If that's not enough the CD that comes with the book provides a complete series of lessons on how to make pishing noises. Excellent book!

The title is very misleading. "The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls" is not what the book is about. The book tells you how to mimick the calls of predators and thereby attract other birds. The information and especially the CD are minimal. The price should reflect the content.

I found this book to be interesting, but to execute the sounds that Dunne does is to say the least very difficult. Still over all I liked the book.