BinocularsBlog – Advice on Digital, Waterproof, & Compact Binoculars for Bird Watching, Sports, Astronomy, Night Vision, & more!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010Bicycle birding
Heading out on the bike, today, for a fall birding trip rather than a bike trip where I do some birdwatching. Even though I carry binoculars on both types of trips, there is a difference. Biking trips where I also do some informal birding are norm for me in the summer; the focus is on aerobics and biking. On an actual birding trip, though, the object is to see birds, first, get some fresh air and exercise, second.
When doing some serious bicycle birding, I bike slowly when in a good area, sometimes with just enough speed to keep the bike upright (the low gearing of a mountain bike is perfect for this) and I will quite often just park the bike and proceed on foot if the birds are there. The beauty of the bike is that it allows me to move on to the next birding hot spot, quickly and quietly, without a lot of time spent walking through marginal areas. How do I know the location of these birding hot spots? It’s simply a matter of experience and familiarity with the trail, but that’s part of the fun when on a new bike trail and it’s the reason I always carry binoculars whenever I ride a bike. In time, you come to know which areas hold good numbers of birds and which don’t. The good news is that most bike trails parallel streams and rivers and that makes for some excellent potential birding. Just be sure to stop well to the side of the trail or even off the trail when you stop to keep the trail open for bikers traveling at a good clip.
As for the binoculars, I tend to carry compact binoculars to save weight when riding, but full size birding binoculars can also be used for bike birding, especially if you carry the birding binocular in a handle bar pack. I use my handlebar packs, though, to carry my digital cameras and, rarely, a field guide (I know my birds, but carry a guide if you do not) and that leaves little room for a full size binocular.
If you have access to a bike trail, close by, as I do and can leave the car in the garage, so much the better. Grab that bike and those binoculars and see what you can find.
Astronomy fall project
Well, here we go with September on our doorstep and good-bye to summer. Let me catch my breath, please! Where did the summer go? Somewhere between all the packing, moving, remodeling, unpacking, planning and driving to and from that goes with relocating to a new home a couple hundred miles plus, away, summer slipped through my fingers. I know it’s all part of the territory when moving, but, at my age, I hate to waste a season so. All my summer interests – birdwatching, astronomy, biking, kayaking, fishing, photography– took a big hit this summer. I have a lot of outdoor time to make up and have already made some plans to that effect.
In a little over a week, now, we will be settled in our lake home in the north woods and that’s when I plan to start some very serious astronomy with the binoculars to the point of starting a list of objects seen with the astronomy binoculars. Not that I haven’t done that, before, but I just want to make a record of what can be seen in my Nikon Astroluxe 10x70 and my Nikon 7x50 as well as some of my other binoculars. I sure have the sky for it, so it will be a good test of what can be seen with some excellent astronomy binoculars. Now, I don’t want to give the impression that this is going to be work. Hey, put any astronomy binocular in my hand and I am all smiles.
Binocular sales
Over the years, I have shown many hundreds of binoculars to customers at the optics counter. One of the things I most enjoyed was giving folks a chance to look through premium grade binoculars, since it is probably safe to say that the majority of the public has never had the opportunity to look through truly fine binoculars. Showing folks state-of-the art binoculars was a great way to meet people and visit. Of course, it was also more than just a courtesy and me being my friendly self; it was also good sales technique and it did result in a good binocular sale, now and then. Regardless of the outcome, it was one of my favorite parts of the job.
So, what did people think with their first looks at Leica binoculars, Zeiss binoculars or Swarovski binoculars? Most of the reactions belonged in the “Wow!” category (also the same category when I showed them the price). Now and then, though, I got a grumpy guy or gal who insisted the high priced binoculars were no better than their cheap department store binocular. I didn’t try to argue with these customers – if you can’t see the difference between cheap binoculars and expensive binoculars you really shouldn’t buy the expensive stuff. Instead, I just saw it as an opportunity to sell a cheaper binocular. It was all part of the fun.
Bird feeders on the move
At the moment, I am sitting in my kitchen, here in Milwaukee, looking out the window and my bird feeders. The usual gang of Chickadees, Nuthatches, Goldfinches, Woodpeckers are there, having their breakfast as I sip on my morning coffee. This is birdwatching in style, I am thinking, but I am also wondering how all my regular bird visitors will react when the feeders are gone in a couple weeks, when we make our final move up to our new north country home. Will someone else in the neighborhood feed them? Will someone else in the neighborhood sit and drink coffee in their kitchen as they watch these birds? Do they have binoculars on their table as I do on mine? Do they also keep a list of birds seen at the feeders? Have they taken pics with their digital cameras of their birds as I have of so many of mine?
Yes, I will miss my suburban Milwaukee back yard and all the birds and, yes, I also know the birds will quickly adapt when me and my bird feeders are gone. Still, I have become so accustomed to watching birds and picking up the birding binoculars, every morning as I drink my coffee, that I am a bit nervous about leaving. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could magically pack up my back yard in a box and take it with all my other belongings up to our new home?
Binocular sale
Sad to say, I’ve been in a financial situation on several occasions in my life that forced me to sell of most of my optical gear to pay the bills. To be sure, there has always been a ready market for quality used binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras and I have taken advantage of that fact when times have been especially rough. No, I am not announcing a sale on any of my optics at this time and I doubt I will ever need to sell another binocular. Knock on wood, those days are over. My binoculars are not for sale, not anymore.
Funny, though, how selling off your gear forces you to choose which binocular or binoculars you can let yourself sell and which binoculars you won’t sell, no matter how hard things get. My birding binoculars, for instance, have always been the easiest to sell when in a pinch, simply because I know so many birders and that also works in reverse because when I need to replace a birding binocular, those same friends spread the word and I soon find another birding binocular. On the other hand, for some reason, I have always fought to keep my compact binoculars and will never allow myself to be without at least one of these small binoculars. Lastly, though I use them the least due to the vagaries of sky conditions, the binoculars I have never sold are my astronomy binoculars. Just couldn’t bring myself to part with my astronomy binoculars, no matter how dire the financial emergency. They are my spaceship to the stars, after all.
Home, sweet binoculars, home
Home, for me, at least, is where the binoculars are. Okay, that says something about my addiction to binoculars and it is more than a little corny, but it is also a fact, since binoculars are rarely far from my reach. Anyway, by this standard, my home is now, up north, in our Rhinelander place. This weekend, we had our big move – all our belongs, light and heavy both, are now safely in place in our new north woods home, including my binoculars. The location might be new, but my same compact binoculars are now sitting on my same kitchen table and I keep one eye on my same old coffee cup and another on the birds in the yard.
The birds in the back yard are different, though. Yesterday afternoon, I watched a young Yellow-bellied Sapsucker work a maple tree and, nearly every morning, a Pileated Woodpecker or two sets up shop in the nearby woods and proceed to “kuk, kuk” for an hour or two. Now and then these large woodpeckers are even bold enough to visit our yard and that is truly a sight in the birding binoculars. With luck, I may even get one to pose for a short digiscoping session, since my spotting scope is also set up and ready to go.
Home, sweet home, at last.
Astronomy binocular challenge
If you’re looking for those big, beautiful magazine quality images of galaxies, nebulae and star clusters, binocular astronomy may disappoint you. Much of the allure of using astronomy binoculars is actually just being able to detect some of these faint objects, though, in some cases the images are truly breathtaking. Mostly, though, you take pride in the fact that some of these objects are visible in binoculars. This is no small accomplishment, though. It can take considerable skill and experience as an observer to see very faint objects in the binoculars, then throw in the need for a good, dark observing site and favorable sky conditions and you have a real challenge. For me, at least, that challenge is a big part of why I use astronomy binoculars for so much of my astronomy. It is a real kick to chart an object on a star map, knowing that it will pushing your skills to the limit, and then go out and actually see the object, just where the star map indicated it would be. More than once I have done a little dance when it all comes together after, sometimes many unsuccessful attempts.
Yes, in case you are wondering, these same skills carry over very nicely when using a telescope, which is all the more reason to add an astronomy binocular to your astronomy gear. Then, too, there are those objects that actually look better in the binoculars than telescopes.
Birds seen on the bike in the binoculars
Sometimes I measure my bike rides in miles, sometimes in hours and, yesterday, I measured my bike ride in the birds I saw. Not sure my fellow bike riders would relate to that, but my birdwatching friends sure would.
About two miles out, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a dead tree, only about fifty yards off the road. Instead of taking flight when I stopped, the hawk simply stared at me. The raptor was too distant for a shot with my little digital camera, but, as always, I had my Leica 10x25BL binocular, so I took a few moments to admire the bird and then continued on my ride, but now with an even bigger than usual smile plastered on my face.
A little over a mile, later, as I crossed a bridge over the Little Menomonee, I spotted four Wild Turkey hens about a quarter mile out in a meadow. I wasn’t surprised to see them, there, as I had seen them there several times, this summer. Of course, my trusty compact binocular with little red ball insignia (Leica) was put to work, again.
Next stop, several miles down the bike path, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and stopped for a closer look. Once, again the Leica proved its worth and provided a beautiful view of a Black-and- White Warbler.
All in all, a very pleasant late summer morning bike ride with some good birds seen. How do you measure your rides?
Common birds and binoculars
A flock of Goldfinches landed in our rose bushes, just outside my kitchen window, yesterday, and although I have seen these same birds everyday, all summer, and have seen how many millions of Goldfinches in all my years of birding, I put down the dish towel for another look.
Someone once asked my why they should bother watching those boring birds they see every day, over and over, again and again. Once you have identified a Robin, a House Sparrow, a summer Goldfinch and so on, what’s the point? Why bother picking up the birding binoculars to see those same old birds, again?
Ouch! That’s really missing the point just about any way you look at birding or birdwatching. To begin, there is so much more to birding or bird watching than identifying birds. Watching those birds in your back yard – the same ones you see all the time – is a proven stress reducer and it provides a connection to nature that so many of us desperately need in this modern world. That alone, is gold for many of us trapped in this urban society. Besides, birds are interesting creatures, yes, even those so called birds that some people foolishly label as trash birds. As an old prof of mine once scolded, “When you think you know it all, you need to take another look.”
Now, maybe you are a bottom line person and all these reasons seem too theoretical and lacking in hands on practicality. You're not into warm and fuzzy. Okay, consider this: watching those same old “I see them everyday” birds, with or even without binoculars, teaches you how to identify new birds or uncommon birds. Huh? That’s right, watching those common birds prepares you to identify new birds. When we watch those House Sparrows, Robins and other common species, over and over again, we are subconsciously picking up subtle clues about their silhouettes, how they hold themselves, they way they walk, fly, feed and so on. Then, when a new bird appears, it sticks out like a sore thumb. At first, you may not be able to pinpoint why that one bird in a flock is different, but after watching those common birds for so long, you just know it is something unusual. This is, in fact, the first clue many of us old pros get that tells us to grab the binoculars and take “another look”.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t take my eyes off those Goldfinches, yesterday. One of those birds, out of about a half dozen Goldfinches, just didn’t seem right, somehow. So, I grabbed the Leica 10x25 and took another look. I wasn’t really too surprised to see a female Yellow Warbler and that is not a common bird in my back yard.
Go ahead, make your day! Take another look.
Fall bird watching
We had a Canadian cool air mass settle over Milwaukee these last few days and it has given us a reprieve from the typical hot, muggy August weather or, another way to look at it, that cool, dry air has given us a delicious taste of fall weather to come. This latest taste of fall certainly has me thinking change in season to come, specifically fall birding.
Fall birdwatching is a much more casual thing than its spring counterpart. Fall bird migration is a more extended phenomenon than spring migration; birds don’t have the impending breeding season in the fall, as they do in the spring, to push them into migration mode. As long as there is adequate food, birds appear, at least to us, in no hurry to leave on migration in the fall. For birders, this means we have to worry less about missing that big migration day or migration week that we see in spring. Of course, that also means we may not have those big birding days with lots of species seen. That’s fine with me. Who can complain about grabbing the birding binoculars and taking it easy as we walk through the woods in the fall? To be sure, fall birding is not without its problems – young of the year birds that came into the world over the summer often lack the field marks of adults and can provide some identification challenges in the binoculars. Still, a visit to the local wetland with a birding spotting scope in late fall to catch migrating waterfowl or a walk in the woods with a good binocular and field guide in early fall to see migrating warblers is as good as it gets for me. Besides, the more casual pace gives me time to get my skis cleaned and waxed for my other favorite season of the year.
Binocular prices
While cleaning the house, last week, as I was packing some boxes for our move, I came across some old catalogs that had binoculars. There was nothing to note until I started to look at the binocular prices and that made me pause and take a closer look. Had the prices of the European brands of binoculars really gone up that much in six years? Oh, yeah. Six years, ago, there were no $2000 binoculars, but there are, now, of course. Top of the line Swarovski binoculars, Leica binoculars and Zeiss binoculars are all going to set you back more than two grand and even Japanese binoculars like the Nikon EDG are flirting with the two thousand price point. And I thought these brands were expensive, six years, ago! Back, then, I had doubts about anyone paying even $1500 for a binocular, but I was obviously wrong. Some people will always pay whatever the price to get the best. Heck, I’m one of them, though convincing Bill to spend $2000 on a binocular, right now, would be a challenge, to say the least. The good news, is that I already have some of these binoculars and got them, years, ago, when the prices were only a little less insane. The lesson, here, is that if you want that pricey Euro binocular of your dreams, it's not going to get any cheaper.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Birdwatching or beewatching
Something has been using our hummingbird feeder; every day, the level drops a bit more. I sat by the window for nearly two days with the binoculars, this last week, hoping to catch a glimpse of my visitor, but no hummers seen. Finally, yesterday, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird magically appeared out of nowhere in the garden. It went from flower to flower in the garden, but, sadly, left without touching the feeder. Not sure what to make of that. So far, the only other life I have seen at the hummingbird feeder has been a swarm of bees. They do seem small enough to invade the ports on the feeder and tap the nectar. If so, they must be some very happy bees and I would like a cut of the honey they produce! Fair is fair.
Other than that, this vicious cold has kept me, indoors and resting, so no other birds or birdwatching reports to offer. Have learned from experience not to mess with summer colds, so, as much as it hurts not to be outside with the birding binoculars, digital cameras and so on, I will just sit, here, watching … the bees. Who knows, I may start a trend and some day I may start v=babbling about beewatching binoculars.
Dog days, summer colds, astronomy binoculars
A nasty summer cold kept me indoors, last night, so no workout with the astronomy binoculars and no Perseid meteors seen for this gal. The good news is that you should still be able to see some Perseids, tonight, assuming you don’t have a summer cold and you do have a clear sky to the northeast. Given that there are no guarantees with meteor showers, though, I would also take the astronomy binoculars in case the Perseids fail to make an appearance. Be a shame to get all lathered up with mosquito repellent for nothing. As for me, I will probably play it safe and rest, since this cold is in no hurry to leave. If you have a cold, I suggest you do the same.
These so called dog days of summer present some challenges for a binocular astronomer. Most of the objects we like to observe with our binoculars are faint and that means we need a lot of sky transparency for a good view. These hot, sultry days, though, produce a lot of haze and stagnant conditions at night and that makes for low sky transparency. That's why I often mount my astronomy binoculars on my astronomy binocular tripod on these sultry nights and do some work on double stars, which don't require a lot of transparency. Still, I can't resist doing some hunting for the faint stuff, so I'll often head out in the wee hours of the morning, after the atmosphere has had a chance to cool a bit, but that often means another problem in the form of dew. Might seem like a no win situation, but it’s all worth it once you turn your binoculars on the star fields in the area of Sagittarius, unless, of course, you have a summer cold.
Hollywood binoculars
I’m in kind of a grouchy mood, today, so I’m in the mood to pick o someone. Hollywood, to be exact. Why is it that with movie budgets in the many millions of dollars with the cast even getting some of those millions, the hero is outfitted with cheap binoculars or, when a spotting scope is in the script, you see a budget spotting scope? Don't even get me started about movies that show someone using a telescope! Do these movie folks go down to the local Cheapo-Mart and shop in the toy department to get their props? Hey, it’s a little hard to swallow a story involving characters from some secret, high level agency with the latest car, guns and electronic gadgetry when they wear junk binoculars around their necks. I’ve seen some binoculars in the movies that I wouldn’t even recommend for kids. No, I don’t expect actors to walk around with Leica binoculars, Swarovski binoculars or Zeiss binoculars, but can’t we at least upgrade to $300 binoculars. That’s a binocular price point that offers enough quality and performance to be at believable in a life and death situation. Come on, who wants to identify with a hero that is trying to take on the bad guys with a $50 binocular? Not me.
Okay, I realize that most movie goers couldn’t identify a good binocular from a bad binocular when they see it, but some of us can and we paid almost as much to get into the show as the price of the binoculars I sometimes see on the screen. Come on, Hollywood.
Binocular humor?
As common a tool as binoculars are, you really don’t see much about binoculars in our popular culture. There are probably more homes with binoculars than without binoculars, but where is the binocular humor? Where are all the binocular figures of speech? Maybe it’s because the binocular is such a simple optical tool to use or maybe it’s because the binocular is such a universal tool – there is really no one user group that is exclusively associated with binoculars, other than, perhaps, birders – that it never occurs to people to think of binoculars in humorous terms or incorporate binocular terms into everyday speech.
There are really very few binocular clichés, either. About the only binocular cliché you are likely to encounter comes to us via Hollywood. Not sure why the first films depict the view through a binocular as two merged circles – that is certainly not what an image looks like through a properly adjusted binocular – but the tradition continues to this day. Surely the folks in Hollywood have used binoculars and know better. Maybe it is just a tradition and no one sees any reason to change or maybe it is simply convenient way to signal the viewer that the hero is actually looking through a binocular. When I see this in a movie I chuckle a bit, so perhaps there is some binocular humor, after all.
Comfortable binocular mount
It’s well-known to anyone who reads my blogs that I have a thing for astronomy binoculars. Heaven knows, I have written about the advantages of astronomy binoculars, compared to telescopes, often enough. Of course, I also own and use and love telescopes, too, but, let’s face it, telescopes can be a pain in the neck, sometimes. I mean that, literally.
Ever try to line up a telescope on an object that is directly overhead or nearly so? With some telescopes and telescope mounts I have used, you almost have to be a contortionist to get the job done. For sure, it is no small task to look through a finder scope when the eyepiece is pointing at the ground. Crawling done to look up through a finder scope is anything but comfortable. Then, too, with some telescope mounts, you actually cannot look directly overhead because the mount stops short of perfect vertical. That explains why some observers wait until those objects are a bit lower in the sky.
Grab that astronomy binocular, though and look straight up in the sky, all you want. That, of course, can also produce some neck strain, especially if you are using a heavy astronomy binocular, but there are ways to beat this problem. One of my favorite tools for observing overhead objects with binoculars is a reclining lawn chair with arm rests. Just adjust the back of the chair to the desired position, then brace your elbows on the arms of the chair and look up to your hearts content. The only thing better would be a reclining lawn chair with arm rests that swivels around in a circle, a la a barber’s chair. Have seen such chairs advertised, but for the price of a conventional lawn chair, anyone can use an astronomy binocular in style and comfort.
Compact binoculars fan
It’s no secret that I am a big compact binoculars fan, though I know, better than most, the shortcomings of this size of binocular. For me, though, the advantages of small binoculars are just too darn hard to resist. I love the way compact binoculars handle and the way compact binoculars don’t weigh you, down. I love the way these small binoculars can go anywhere with you and are always there when you need binoculars.
I also like the price of compact binoculars. For instance, when I buy binoculars, I can buy the finest compact binoculars for a fraction of the price of their full size binocular counterparts. Okay, I’m a sucker for quality – I’d rather buy the best compact binocular than a lower quality, but equally expensive, full size binocular. Yes, I am aware that there is an optical price to be paid with smaller binoculars, but I make up for most of that with my experience using binoculars.
The lower price of compact binoculars has also allowed me to accumulate enough of these small binoculars to stash them at various locations. You’ll find compact binocular in several room in my home and you’ll even find some compact binoculars in the glove compartment of my car. No, I don’t recommend going to this kind of extreme – I am, after all, a self-confessed optics addict – but it does demonstrate how darn handy compact binoculars can be.
Summer vacation?
I sometimes have to pinch myself when I see that the calendar says August. Can it really be August? Where has the summer gone and can fall really be so close? What happened to all the plans I made last winter for this soon to disappear summer? We had planned to take three weeks and pull the pop-up camper out west to do some work with the astronomy binoculars and birding binoculars, not to mention a lot of work with the digital cameras and film cameras and, who knows, maybe grab a couple of fly rods and chase some trout. This was to be my “outdoors” summer to make up for all the summers I had been trapped in the big city. Oh, how I needed that escape!
Instead, our camping trip got postponed until next summer and my "outdoors" summer turned out to be a very much an “indoors” summer, in terms of hours, at least. Not complaining, though, because it has all been for a very good reason. We are moving to northern Wisconsin and, once settled in, it won’t take any time at all to pull those “outdoor” hours into the surplus column. Purchasing our north woods lake home and then remodeling, packing, selling our old home and moving items on a weekend by weekend basis has been the reason I have spent too many hours indoors, this summer. That part of the relocation has not been much fun, but, of course, it comes with the territory when you relocate. Knowing what awaits at the end of the road, though, keeps a smile on my face and, for all the time I have been trapped indoors, I have still managed to do a fair amount of birdwatching, astronomy and photography and the binoculars, spotting scope and cameras have not been collecting dust.
It really has been a good summer, but just wait till this fall.
Confessions of a binocular astronomer
We’ll be up north, again, this coming weekend and with the moon in a waning crescent phase, I hope to do some astronomy, either with the astronomy binoculars or telescopes, though I am typically more in the mood for the binoculars when it comes time to observe. Not sure why I tend to reach for the binoculars, first, when I have a dark, clear sky; it’s just the opposite of the majority of astronomers who head for the telescope, first. Guess I am just a binocular astronomer by nature.
Maybe it’s because I spent so many nights in the Chicago suburbs with the binoculars, dreaming of the day when I could see what they could really do under a dark sky. Maybe it’s because I am spoiled about the grab and go convenience and ease of use of astronomy binoculars or, to put it another way, maybe it’s because I am just too tired after a long hard day to set up and use a telescope. Then, again, maybe it’s because I prefer the advantage of using two eyes with binoculars or maybe it’s because my favorite deep-sky objects to observe – large, open star clusters - are best seen with binoculars. Mostly, though, I suspect it is because the sky seen through my astronomy binoculars is almost as familiar to me as the sky seen without the help of binoculars. my unaided eyes. It’s all as comforting to me as my back yard.
Okay, that’s a really large back yard, but stop over some night and I’ll show you the sights.
What is an astronomy binocular?
What is an astronomy binocular? Contrary to some advertising claims, there really are no hard and fast rules as to what is and what is not an astronomy binocular; it’s mostly a matter of where you want to draw the line. In fact, any binocular will allow you to see more of the night sky in terms of objects and detail seen than the unaided eye. This is easy enough to demonstrate. Do you have a compact binocular? No one would ever advertise a compact binocular as astronomy binoculars and no one would ever recommend such a small binocular as a good choice for astronomy, but the truth is that even something this small will reveal a wealth of detail on the moon and brighter star clusters that you could never see with the unaided eye.
Binocular size is important, of course, when it comes to astronomy. As with telescopes, the primary factor in astronomy binocular performance is size. All else equal, larger objective lenses out front reveal fainter objects and resolve more detail, but the question is how large? Go too large on that second binocular number and you need a tripod to effectively support the weight; go too high on that first binocular number and you need a tripod for steadiness. I own and use astronomy binocular tripods, but I much prefer to do my binocular astronomy without astronomy tripods. Tripods cut down on your portability and, especially, your mobility. As far as I am concerned, the freedom of movement that comes when you use a binocular without a tripod is one of the big reasons for using binoculars for astronomy. If I have to use a tripod, I usually just grab the telescope, instead of binoculars.
Okay, I hate to mess with tripods, though I do own and use giant binoculars and I do mount them on tripods if I must. Maybe my aversion to astronomy tripods is simply a matter of what I first used for astronomy. My first “astronomy binocular” was a 10x40 that I also used for birding. These days, no one would classify a 10x40 as an astronomy binocular, but with that old 10x40 I learned all the basics of using a binocular for astronomy. In fact, I have since used many conventional birding binoculars or marine binoculars for astronomy when my larger binoculars were not available or I just did not want to mess with the big stuff.
My advice, then? Just grab whatever binocular you have and take it outside on the next dark, clear night and take a critical look. You'll be quite surprised at what you see and odds are that you'll want to see more and that, in turn, probably means you'll want a larger binocular. Welcome to the world of astronomy binoculars!
Dream binoculars
There was a time, as your typical starving college student, when I thought paying $100 for a birding binocular was a fortune and really a bit ostentatious. How could you justify paying that much money for binoculars when there is tuition, not to mention books to buy? Nevertheless, I dreamed about owning a fine pair of birding binoculars, some day, and that some day might not be that far, away, assuming I graduated and landed that big career job.
Oh, yes, I graduated (and then some) and though I did start a career, there were other things like marriage and children and monthly bills that kept putting that dream binocular on hold. In the meantime, I would buy binoculars that I could afford on our limited household budget and kept right on birding and birdwatching. In fact, some of the best advice I ever got on birding and bird watching came from my grad assistant in my college ornithology class. He told me to go to K Mart and just buy what I could afford; the important thing was to get out and spend time birding and not waste time dreaming and waiting for an expensive dream binocular. Besides, when I could afford that expensive binocular, I would be all the more ready to appreciate it.
He was right. I’ve owned many very expensive birding binoculars and I do appreciate them, but I’m also glad I didn’t wait to start birding until I could afford expensive binoculars. You can, indeed, learn the basics of birding without spending that fortune on binoculars, but if you fall in love with birding, as I did, you will someday buy that dream binocular.
Western birds in the back yard
What’s a western vacation without western birds? We just returned from our Utah family reunion/vacation and definitely got a taste of western birds. My compact binoculars got a lot of use and my eyes were constantly on the alert for birds. Can’t say I saw a lot of variety – August is not the best month to rack up a lot of species on the birding list, after all – but what I did see was quite a departure from what I typically see from my Milwaukee backyard.
The Black-billed Magpie is a good example. You could spend a lifetime of birdwatching in Wisconsin and never see this big, conspicuous bird, but, out in Utah, this was actually a common backyard bird. Yes, I was quite surprised to see this bird in urban back yards in Park City (if you could call back yards in Park City, urban). In fact, a pair of these crow family birds appeared outside our bedroom at the lodge, each morning, as if to remind me that I was no longer in Milwaukee.
Another, though smaller and quieter, western bird that was constantly in the air was the Violet-green Swallow. I know that at least one pair found a vent in brickwork outside our room in the lodge a good place the build a nest. Like most swallows, you see them mostly in flight and rarely get a chance to see one sit still, but they are certainly one of the prettiest of the swallows in my book. Tried to get a pic of one in the digital cameras, but the darn auto focus kept trying to focus on the background, instead of the bird, and by the time I switched to manual focus, the bird was gone. (Did I mention how much I hate auto focus for bird photography?) Next time, I will try to take the spotting scope and do some digiscoping and get it right.