Community-level indices of reproductive success are useful for measuring or monitoring demographic effects of habitat alteration on birds. We present a time-efficient method to estimate the relative reproductive activity of the forest songbird community. A recording of mobbing calls of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) was broadcast at pre-selected stations during the breeding season. These calls attracted individuals of many bird species present in the vicinity, allowing visual detection of reproductive activity (e.g., adults carrying food or presumed pairs). In mature deciduous forests of northern New Brunswick, 50 bird species responded to the playbacks. Playbacks significantly increased the probability of visual observations of birds compared to silent observations conducted before broadcasting mobbing calls. In coniferous forests of central Québec, playbacks attracted 24 species and also provided a significantly greater opportunity to make visual observations of individual birds. In New Brunswick, mobbing playbacks facilitated more observations of reproductive evidence relative to point counts. Observation periods were brief and a 306-ha plot (1.75 × 1.75 km, 64 points spaced 250 m apart) could be surveyed by foot in less than 32 observer-hours. The proportion of individuals of a given species showing evidence of reproductive activity was used as an index of reproductive success. Black-throated Blue Warblers (Dendroica caerulescens) and Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus) had a reproductive index consistent with their true nesting success as derived from intensive nest monitoring on the same plots.