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Pishing may seem like a basic birding skill, but there is far more to it than making simple sounds. The Art of Pishing is a comprehensive how-to guide by expert pisher Pete Dunne, including not only detailed instruction, but tips for how to make the most of every pish and even when not to pish so as not to overly aggravate birds or birders. The accompanying CD provides audio demonstrations of more than a dozen pishes, plus reinforces key points of the text.


Used together, The Art of Pishing can help turn any birder into a pish artiste.

Pros

• Detailed instruction guide for multiple types of pishes, including photos of pish techniques and tips for improving pishes for better results.
• Includes an audio CD for practice and comparison.
• Goes beyond basic instruction to include the history of pishing, pishing etiquette and how to keep the welfare of birds in mind while pishing.
• Humorous tone, including anecdotes, is a pleasure to read and suitable for both novice and expert birders.

Cons

• Brief section on other beginning birding information disrupts the book's flow and feels extraneous, lacking any information that a birder wouldn't already be aware of before beginning to pish.

Description

• Title: The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls
• Author: Pete Dunne
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Publication Date: June 2006
• Format: Softcover
• Page Count: 92
• ISBN: 978-0-8117-3295-6
• Price: $18.95 (USD)

Review - The Art of Pishing

Even beginning birders quickly become familiar with pishing – making small squeaking or whispering noises in order to attract birds.

But few birders become as accomplished at pishing so as to mimic a wide range of different bird calls that can attract and incite full-fledged feathered riots, and that's where The Art of Pishing: How to Attract Birds by Mimicking Their Calls comes in. This slim guide is the ultimate how-to for pish perfection, including instructions for more than a dozen pish techniques.

Author, expert birder and pish practicioner Pete Dunne shares his techniques in intimate detail, including the best lip positions, quality of spit, chin angles, pucker strengths and other tips to help recreate chips, squeals, whispers and other types of pishes. Multiple photos accompany the technique descriptions, along with tips for how birders can best pish to create reactions in nearby birds.

Dunne goes well beyond just instructing readers in how to pish, however. Pishing etiquette is extensively covered, including where and when to pish, as well as how to handle the urge to pish near other birders or when it is best to leave the birds in silence for their better well-being. The history of pishing is also explored, from the mysterious origins of this bird mimicking technique to the ongoing debate of whether to pish or not to pish.

While a basic pish can be easy to master and will be effective in the field, Dunne covers far more than the basics, and he readily admits that "there are as many styles of pishing as there are birders who pish. No one sound or even combination of sounds is universal, surefire, works everywhere, every time, on every bird." With Dunne's tips for where and when to pish, as well as the extensive discussion on pages 70-80 about the most pishable birds and what types of pishes tend to work best with them, any birder can refine their techniques to see greater success while pishing.

The book comes with a brief accompanying CD that includes more than 12 minutes of pish demonstrations on seven tracks, with the relevant track numbers noted in the margins of the book's instructional sections. Each example is carefully explained and repeated multiple times so listeners can emulate the technique, and some of the book's basic concepts are emphasized in the intermittent dialogue. Yet what Dunne emphasizes most is to "again and always, listen to the professionals, to the real scolding birds. It's their pattern you are trying to emulate, not mine." Those exact patterns, from different owls to songbirds to even the distressed cries of birds and prey, can all help birders see more birds.

Written with Dunne's characteristic humor and filled with colorful anecdotes and mild self-deprecation of crazy moments every experienced birder can relate to, The Art of Pishing is an easy to read, informative and useful book that both novice and experienced birders can enjoy while simultaneously sharpening their pishing skills and enhancing their field birding expertise. Just pay heed to Dunne's irreverent warning on the book's information page: "Reading this book and practicing its tenets could have dire, life-altering consequences. You could be eaten by bears, ostracized by your children, or, worse, you could turn into a bird watcher."



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.