Pish

No, not that. Pish!.
Sculpture in the Iya Valley, Japan.

Talk to the animals

It's pronounced just like it looks, but with lots of sibilance. You usually say "pish-pish."

It's a bit of universal language understood by both birds and mammals. Loosely translated: "Hey, you!"

I learned it from naturalist and guide Marc Egger in Africa. He used it to stop a group of bontebok antelope to look back over their shoulders and make a photo opportunity for me that you can see here. He used it to summon otherwise invisible cisticolas (little warbler birds) from a forest of weeds. They'd fly up, take a "wazzup?" look around, then disappear. They could have been shuttlecocks for all I knew.

But I learned the power of pish.

And it was a "pish-pish" that made that little coyote look up at me, posing prettily for that picture.

Last night I met some possums in the park in the dark. "Hello, br'er possum," got no response. Then I pished. Possum froze, and looked back at me. Wish I owned a speedlight and had the camera out. Instead you get a picture of a boy peeing off a cliff.

Try it out. You'll be like Harry Potter speaking Parseltongue.