To pish, hweet or tek

For years I've tried unsuccessfully to pish birds out into the open. This a trick which some birders swear by. You can either put your lips together (like you're about to kiss somebody) and suck air in through them to make a squeeking noise, or you can smile with your lips together and then move you lips slightly and make a peeshing noise (peesh, peesh, peesh). It's supposed to work particularly well for some American passerines, and apparently can work for crests, tits and warblers in the UK. It's never worked for me though.

However, over the past few days I've been trying hweeting and teking (copyright C.Davies). I don't know if other birders do this or if it's just me going insane, but by whistling a "hweet" (i.e. mimicking their call) I've found that I can attract Chiffchaffs out into the open. Likewise today, I managed to apparently attract Blackcaps by putting my tongue on the top of my mouth and making a "tek" noise to imitate their call. It really seems to work. Now if I could just work out how to attract a White's Thrush, I might be able to make a bit of money out of this........