Tips needed for playing dawn song

[DAKdude]

Hi Fred and Hogwild,
The question was will the dawnsong attract more hawks and owls to the area. Both of you mentioned that the CD keeps playing but that point is irrelevant since the question was does it bring more hawks and owls to the area not whether it will keep them there. The sound and activity of live martins will attract them as much or more than the recording. Yes the birds give off an alarm call when the predator is spotted and stop singing the dawnsong but it didn't neccesarally bring more hawks and owls into the area. Hogwild you mentioned that you had seen hawks and owls show up very soon after you started playing the song. But I would suggest that there were in the area already since they showed up so quickly. Hawks and Owls are usually very territorial about their feeding territories and will chase other conspecifics out of the area. Ever notice that you don't have 5 or 6 hawks attack your martin colony at the same time, that is because they tend to keep competitors away. You will naturally see more predators in the south in the spring before they start moving north again.

Granted if you play the speakers at highly amplified volume you will attract birds (martins or predators) from a wider area. But also if you have martins they fly high and sing aloft over a wide area that also advertises their presence to predators that could follow them to the colony.

I am not arguing that the speakers don't attract hawks and owls, just that they don't necessarily attract more predators than are already there or would naturally be attracted to an active colony. The dawnsong is a good tool to use but doesn't have to be used excessively. I was just pointing out the fact that all the talk about the dawnsong attracting predators may make some people more worried about it than they need to be.

Thanks for your input on the discussion.
James