Pratiquer le pishing : oui, mais avec prudence

Pish is an imitated bird call (usually a scold or alarm call) used by birders and ornithologists to attract birds (generally Passerines). The action of making the sound is known as pishing. This technique is used by scientists to increase the effectiveness of bird diversity surveys, and by birders, mainly North-American, to attract species that they might not otherwise see. Pishing is used most effectively in the Holarctic, where it is thought to work due to its similarity to the scold calls of tits and chickadees (birds in the family Paridae). These scold calls, a form of mobbing behaviour, attract other birds which come in to establish the nature of the potential threat.
After a description of the method, we’ll present the reasons why numerous species of birds are attracted and the potential objections and dangers to use the pishing without caution.