On the week before this episode was released, there was post on a local Facebook group about the use of call-up or play back to lure a an out-of-range Woodland Kingfisher that had shown up at Camdeboo National Park in the Eastern Cape, to come closer. The post caused much debate around the topic – as this topic has done on many other occasions on various online forums. So, I thought it would be a good time to finally tackle the important topics of the use of call back and ethical birding on a podcast episode.

I am not going to try to tell you what is best, instead I am going to have a chat with two well-known birders who have slightly different views on the topics – Lynette Rudman and Trevor Hardaker – and then I will let Andrew de Blocq the Avitourism Project Manager from Birdlife South Africa share on their stance on the use of call back, as well as ethical birding. I believe as you listen to the different guests share on these all-important topics – you will be better equipped to make better choices out in the field.

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Show Links:

BirdLife South Africa Links:

BirdLife South Africa Code of Ethics - https://www.birdlife.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BirdLife-South-Africa-Birding-Code-of-Ethics-Position-Statement.pdf

BirdLife South Africa Listers Club - https://www.birdlife.org.za/go-birding/go-birding-south-africa-listers-club/

BirdLife South Africa Listers Club Badges - https://shop.birdlife.org.za/product/south-africa-listers-club/

Intro and outro music by Tony ZA https://soundcloud.com/tonyofficialza