Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Biosemiotic and Ecoacoustic History of Bird-Scaring

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Biosemiotics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Timo Maran has defined “biosemiotic criticism” as the study of human culture with an emphasis on the recognition that all forms of life are organized by sign processes. That approach guides this investigation of the sonic devices and practices that have been used in encounters between birds and humans in agricultural spaces. “Bird-scaring” has been a long-standing component of the semiotic relationship between humans and birds in what I am calling the agricultural semiosphere. The struggle between humans and “pest” species over the control of agricultural resources has spurred technological development, and an examination of the sonic tools that have been involved in bird-scaring practices, from wooden rattles to digital sound recordings, intersects with scholarship on sound technology and media studies. The field of ecoacoustics provides a conceptual framework for the sonic dynamics of the interspecies communication under examination. To the extent that the essay also explores the sign relations between humans and birds it has a place in the growing corpus of biosemiotic criticism. The historical account of bird-scaring practices is presented in three sections, demarcated by changes in technology as well as shifts in the mode of semiotic reference. Across the analysis, a historical approach to bird-scaring is interwoven with a discussion of biosemiotic and ecoacoustic themes and concepts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Seth Eastman’s “Guarding the Cornfields” (1854), can be see here:

    https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-lincoln%3A31560/print_object Theodor De Bry’s engraving of “Secotan,” likely near present-day Bonnerton, North Carolina, based on the watercolor “Indian Village of Secoton” by John White (1585–1586), can be seen here: http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/white.html#s38 .

  2. Email interview with the author, May 24, 2020. See: http://www.hansbeckers.be/works/klopotec.html

  3. Patents US333611A, US733778A, US966950A, US1056602A; viewable at https://patents.google.com

  4. Patents US2596678A, US2920600A; viewable at https://patents.google.com

  5. Patent US2920600A; viewable at https://patents.google.com

References

  • “An African Scarecrow” (1845). Dwights American Magazine, 1, 32, p. 504.

    Google Scholar 

  • “An Indian Bird Scarer” (1873). Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, 27, 18, p. 287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avery, M. L., & Werner, S. J. (2017). Frightening devices. In G. M. Linz, M. L. Avery, & R. A. Dolbeer (Eds.), Ecology and management of blackbirds (Icteridae) in North America (pp. 159–174). Boca Raton: CRC Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barrows, W. B., & Schwarz, E. A. (1895). The Common Crow of the United States. Bulletin no. 6, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Washington: Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. (1977). Elements of semiology. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blades, J. (1973). Percussion instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Early Music, 1(1), 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bomford, M., & O’Brien, P. H. (1990). Sonic Deterrents in Animal Damage Control: A Review of Device Tests and Effectiveness. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 18(4), 411–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brough, T. (1969). The Dispersal of Starlings from Woodland Roosts and the Use of Bio-Acoustics. Journal of Applied Ecology, 6(3), 403–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruyninckx, J. (2018). Listening in the field. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chamberlain, D. R., & Cornwell, G. W. (1971). Selected Vocalizations Of The Common Crow. In The Auk (Vol. 88, pp. 613–634).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobley, P. (2016). Cultural implications of biosemiotics. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, T. W. (1997). The symbolic species. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deely, John. (2001). “Umwelt,” in Semiotica, 134, 1/ 4, pp. 125–135.

  • Evans, C. S. (1997). Referential signals. In D. H. Owings, M. D. Beecher, & N. S. Thompson (Eds.), Perspectives in ethology (Vol. 12, pp. 99–143). Boston: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, C. S., Evans, L., & Marler, P. (1993). On the meaning of alarm calls: Functional reference in an avian vocal system. Animal Behavior, 46(1), 23–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, C. S., & Evans, L. (2007). Representational signaling in birds. Biology Letters, 3(1), 8–11.

  • Farina, A. (2014). Soundscape ecology: Principles, patterns, methods, and applications. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Farina, A., & Gage, S. H. (Eds.). (2017). Ecoacoustics: The ecological role of sounds. Oxford: Wiley and Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feaster, Patrick. (2015). “The Non-Western Roots of Modern Audio Technology,” accessed here: https://griffonagedotcom.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/the-non-western-roots-of-modern-audio-technology/

  • Forte, M. G. (1998). American police collectibles: Dark lanterns and other curious devices. Turn of the Century Publishers.

  • Fowler, M. (2015). Sound as a considered design parameter in the Japanese garden. Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, 35(4), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frings, H., & Frings, M. (1957). Recorded Calls of the Eastern Crow as Attractants and Repellents. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 21(1), 91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frings, H., Frings, M., Cox, B., & Peissner, L. (1955). Recorded Calls of Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) as Repellents and Attractants. Science, 121(3140), 340–341.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frings, H., & Jumber, J. (1954). Preliminary Studies on the Use of a Specific Sound to Repel Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Science, 119(3088), 318–319.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gachelin, J.-M., & English, M. (1996). Scaring Crows in English. English Today, 12(1), 50–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gell, A. (1996). Vogel’s net: Traps as artworks and artworks as traps. Journal of Material Culture, 1(1), 15–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, L. (2002). Aesop’s fables. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorenzel, W. Paul, Kelly, Paul R., & Whisson, Desley A. (2004). “The Office of Spill Prevention and Response -- Applying bird hazing techniques in oil spill situations” in Journal Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 21, 21, pp. 287–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillermo, R., & Agabin, M. E. (2013). A German travels to the north in 1878 Golden Anitos, bird-scaring machines, and the tree of justice. Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints, 61(4), 521–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haining, P. (1988). The scarecrow: Fact and fable. London: Robert Hale.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, T. (2016). Jude the obscure. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haseltine, Nate. (1954). “Starlings’ own cry scares them away,” The Washington Post, p. B2.

  • Hauser, M. D. (1996). The evolution of communication. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmeyer, J. (1993). Signs of meaning in the universe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmeyer, J. (2007). Semiotic scaffolding of living systems. In M. Barbieri (Ed.), Introduction to biosemiotics (pp. 149–166). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmeyer, J. (2008). Biosemiotics. Scranton: University of Scranton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hui, A. (2018). Imagining ecologies through sound: An historic-ecological approach to the soundscape of the Mississippi flyway. MUSICultures, 45(1–2), 35–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karas, N. (1963). The crow Shooter’s handbook. Easton, Maryland: Wightman Electronics Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, E. (2013). How forests think. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kretzenbacher, L. (1975). Windratl und Klapotetz. München: Rudolf Trofenik.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kull, K. (2014). Zoosemiotics is the study of animal forms of knowing. Semiotica, 198, 47–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kull, K., Emmeche, C., & Favareau, D. (2008). Biosemiotic Questions. Biosemiotics, 1(1), 41–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, Bruno (as Jim Johnson). (1988). “Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer,” Social Problems, 35, 3, 298–310.

  • Maran, Timo. (2007). “Semiotic interpretations of biological mimicry,” Semiotica, 167.

  • Maran, T. (2014). Biosemiotic Criticism. In G. Garrard (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Ecocriticism (pp. 260–275). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maran, T. (2017). Mimicry and meaning: Structure and semiotics of biological mimicry. Cham: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Markham, G. (1676). Markham’s farewell to husbandry. London: George Sawbridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marler, P. (1955). Characteristics of some animal calls. Nature, 176, 6–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler, P. (1957). Specific distinctiveness in the communication signals of birds. Behaviour, 11(1), 13–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. R., Martin, L. M., & Taber, M. R. (1998). Containment basins and bird exclusion--a historical perspective. Journal Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 18(18), 61–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinelli, D. (2010). A critical companion to Zoosemiotics. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marzluff, J. M., & Angell, T. (2005). In the company of crows. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullet, T. C., Farina, A., & Gage, S. H. (2017). The acoustic habitat hypothesis: An Ecoacoustics perspective on species habitat selection. In Biosemiotics (Vol. 10, pp. 319–336).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mundy, R. (2018). Animal Musicalities. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, Jim. (2014). “Migratory Birds and Tar Sands,” National Wildlife Federation, https://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Global-Warming/2014/nwf_issue_briefs_Interactive2.pdf

  • Pearson, E. W., Skon, P. R., & Corner, G. W. (1967). Dispersal of Urban Roosts with Records of Starling Distress Calls. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 31(3), 502–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pick, Anat. (2015). “Animal life in the cinematic Umwelt,” in Lawrence, Michael and McMahon, Laura eds. Animal Life and the Moving Image. London: BFI/Palgrave, pp. 221–237.

  • Pijanowski, B. C., Farina, A., Gage, S. H., Dumyahn, S. L., & Krause, B. L. (2011a). What is soundscape ecology? An introduction and overview of an emerging new science. In Landscape Ecology (Vol. 26, pp. 1213–1232).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pijanowski, B. C., Villanueva-Rivera, L. J., Dumyahn, S. L., Farina, A., Krause, B. L., Napoletano, B. M., Gage, S. H., & Pieretti, N. (2011b). Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape. BioScience, 61(3), 203–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, D. B., & Thompson, N. S. (1978). Critical properties of the assembly call of the common American crow. Behaviour, 64(3/4), 184–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodee, H. D. (1977). The ‘dreary landscape’ as a background for scenes of rural poverty in Victorian paintings. Art Journal, 36(4), 307–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, P. (1986). Introduction: The Saussurian impulse in cinema semiotics. In P. Rosen (Ed.), Narrative, apparatus, ideology (pp. 3–16). New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothenberg, D. (2005). Why birds sing. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sax, B. (2003). Crow. London: Reaktion Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schafer, R. M. (1977). The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sebeok, T. A. (1989). The sign and its masters. Lanham: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sebeok, Thomas A. (2001a). “Biosemiotics: Its roots, proliferation, and prospects,” in Semiotica, 134, 1/ 4, pp. 61–78.

  • Sebeok, T. A. (2001b). Signs: An introduction to semiotics [second edition]. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sebeok, Thomas A. (2011). “Zoosemiotics: At the Intersection of Nature and Culture,” in Maran, Timo, Martinelli, Dario, & Turovski, Aleksei eds. Readings in Zoosemiotics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 77–86.

  • Seyfarth, Robert M. & Cheney, Dorothy L. (2011). “Meaning, Reference, and Intenationality in the Natural Vocalizations of Monkeys,” in Maran, Timo, Martinelli, Dario, & Turovski, Aleksei eds. Readings in Zoosemiotics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 157–173.

  • Sharp, C. J., Kidson, F., Broadwood, L. E., & Fuller-Maitland, J. A. (1905). Folk-songs noted in Somerset and North Devon. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 2(6), 1–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. (2015). Eco-Sonic Media. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. B. (1988). Chew-hallaw and Buckalee: A comparative study of some bird-scaring and herding rhymes. Folk Life, 27(1), 26–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stam, R. (2000). Film theory: An introduction. Malden, Mass: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sueur, J., & Farina, A. (2015). Ecoacoustics: The ecological investigation and interpretation of environmental sound. In Biosemiotics (Vol. 8, pp. 493–502).

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, T. N. (2016). Semantic communication in birds: Evidence from field research over the past two decades. Ecological Research, 31, 307–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swaddle, J. P., Moseley, D. L., Hinders, M. K., & Smith, E. P. (2016). A sonic net excludes birds from an airfield: Implications for reducing bird strike and crop losses. Ecological Applications, 26(2), 339–345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Templeton, N. C., Greene, E., & Davis, K. (2005). Allometry of Alarm Calls: Black-Capped Chickadees Encode Information about Predator Size. Science, 308(5730), 1934–1937.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • “The Bird-Scarer” (1903). The Spectator, 90, 3906, pp. 735–736.

  • Timoney, Kevin P. & Ronconi, Robert A. (2010). “Annual bird mortality in the bitumen tailings ponds in northeastern Alberta, Canada,” in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 122, 3, pp. 569–576.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Uexküll, J. (2001). An Introduction to Umwelt. Semiotica, 134(1/ 4), 107–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, B. C., & Fischer, J. (2012). Functionally referential signals: A promising paradigm whose time has passed. Evolutionary Anthropology, 21(5), 195–205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, W. (2011). The biosemiotic turn. In A. Goodbody & K. Rigby (Eds.), Ecocritical Theory (pp. 270–282). Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, W. (2016). Expecting the earth. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winthrop-Young, Geoffrey, “Bubbles and Webs,” in Uexküll, Jakob von. (2010). A foray into the worlds of animals and humans. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 209–243.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers for feedback that greatly improved the essay.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radio-TV-Film, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jacob Smith

Authors
  1. Jacob Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacob Smith.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smith, J. A Biosemiotic and Ecoacoustic History of Bird-Scaring. Biosemiotics 15, 67–83 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09404-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09404-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation