BinocularsBlog – Advice on Digital, Waterproof, & Compact Binoculars for Bird Watching, Sports, Astronomy, Night Vision, & more!

What a storm! Fallen trees are everywhere and we could hear them crashing to the ground during the night, compliments of the fifty mile and hour plus winds. We even had to cut up a couple of fallen trees, just to get out of our driveway. No wonder our power was out for a day. Hats off to the folks that were out in this weather to restore everyone’s power. You folks are the greatest.

As spooky as a storm like that can be, though, the drastic change in weather it brings gets the birds moving, so there can be a good side to such weather event. For sure, whenever a strong front blows through in late October or November, it really pays to keep the binoculars, handy. Once that wind shifted north, on Wednesday, flock after flock of ducks have been wheeling through the air like fighter jets with that brutal north wind on their tails. It’s the kind of event I suspect every duck hunter loves, but it is also a great opportunity for birdwatching, especially if you love seeing waterfowl as much as I do. Yes, it takes some experience to consistently identify ducks on the wing in the birding binoculars, but, once you get the knack, it is possible to identify ducks at great distances. No need to sit in a duck bind, either. Just drive to the nearest lake with your birding binoculars and possibly your birding spotting scope and window mount, stay warm in your vehicle, sip hot coffee and watch the show, unless, of course, you live right on the lake, as we do.

Had our first snow, today. No, just some light snow mixed with rain and certainly not enough to wax up the skis, but enough to tell us that winter is on its way and that means it is time to it grab the gloves when heading out with the binoculars.

So, do your binoculars qualify as binoculars for winter? Is there anything you can do to winterize binoculars? Not really, other than to pick the right binoculars, assuming, of course, you haven’t done anything stupid like drowning the focusing mechanism on your binocular with oil or grease. If so, all you have done is to add a way for dirt and dust to collect on the focusing mechanism which will shorten the life of the mechanism and, if you added the wrong kind of oil, your binocular will now freeze up in cold weather. Always a bad idea to play home repair on a binocular.

As to the right binocular for use under winter conditions, waterproof is a must, of course. Those severe changes in temperature between your house and the cold air outside your house will almost always cause a non-waterproof binocular to leak and fog, eventually. The extra sealing on a binocular labeled as waterproof goes a long way to prevent this.

There are other not so obvious features on a binocular, though, that make for a good winter binocular. First and foremost is a binocular you can focus and hold effectively when wearing gloves. Make no mistake, some binoculars are worthless in this regard. Do you really want to take your gloves off to focus your binocular when the temperature is below zero? I don’t. That’s why I look for binoculars with large, easy to turn focusing knobs and body coverings that don’t allow the binocular to slip out of your hands. Be especially careful when you buy compact binoculars for use in cold weather, since so many compact binoculars have dainty little focusing knobs. That’s fine at the opera or an indoor sporting event, but a real pain for cold weather use. All my compact binoculars do have glove friendly focusing, though, so not all compact binoculars are poor choices for winter work.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Individual eyepiece focus binoculars (IF binoculars, in bino lingo) might seem to offer the perfect binocular focusing system. After all, once adjusted for your eyes and initially focused at a proper distance, everything remains in focus from as close as twenty or thirty yards to as far as you can see. Perfect, right?

Actually, for some purposes, it is darn near perfect. For one, individual eyepiece focus binoculars are the height of simplicity with no moving parts in the focusing system other than the binocular eyepieces. That makes IF the most rugged focusing system in the binocular world and also saves money, compared to center focus systems. For another, IF binoculars are the quickest and easiest binoculars to use when you need to spot something beyond that minimum of twenty or thirty yards and spot it fast. Just look and everything is in focus. For these reasons, IF is the overwhelming choice for military binoculars or other applications where it is literally a matter of life and death to take even an instant to focus a binocular. IF is also a popular choice for marine binoculars, since IF focusing is easier to make waterproof. IF is also a very practical choice for astronomy binoculars , since, of course, everything is at the same distance in the sky, namely infinity focus, as far as any binocular is concerned.

So why doesn’t every binocular user prefer individual eyepiece focus binoculars? That minimum focus capability is why. In birding and birdwatching, for instance, a great deal of work is done at very close distance, sometimes as close as fifteen feet and even less and, what’s more, birds are constantly moving, which means you have to continually refocus as the birds change distance. Yes, you can actually adjust some IF binoculars to focus that close, but at such close ranges, an IF binocular is no longer capable of you that “everything in focus” capability and by the time you refocus each eyepiece, the bird is long gone or has moved, again. IF binoculars are, simply put, much too slow for close in work. That’s why all serious birding binoculars are center focus, rather than IF.

Unlike automobiles, SUVs and trucks, you rarely find custom options on binoculars. In other words, when it comes time to buy binoculars, you rarely get to choose which binocular features you want or don’t want with any given model – you take the features that come with the binocular or you move on and choose different binoculars. In truth, this is all to the good, in my opinion, since many binocular features, such as waterproofing, full multi-coating, armoring, long eye relief and so on are still good features to have on a binocular, even if you don’t really need them or use them. It also eliminates a marketing strategy that many of us hate when shopping for a vehicle – trying to figure out a final price, once you are socked for a whole shopping list of extra custom features, many of which really should be standard features. I pray things never get that complicated with binoculars.

Options in binoculars, then, are exception rather than the rule and when options are available in binoculars, they involve the body of the binocular, rather than the optics. The most common option when looking at a binocular is body color, typically a choice between standard black or camo, as when looking at the ever popular Nikon Monarch. Far less common is an option on body covering. A Leica Ultravid 10x25, for instance, is available in the very retro (these days) leather covered Leica Ultravid 10x25 BL or the armored version Leica Ultravid 10x25 BR. I own and love the BL version. The leather covering does make for a slimmer binocular to hold and it also gives the already elegant Leica compact binocular even more class, at least to my eye.

Then there are the add on options, typically found in specialty binoculars, notably marine binoculars and also military binoculars Here you can add a compass, as in the Bushnell Marine 7x50 and sometimes a grid style rangefinder, though Steiner has now added a laser rangefinder in their excellent (and expensive) Steiner Military 10x50 LRF.

We’ve hit a stretch of rainy, soggy weather, up here in the north country, so this north country gal hasn’t had much in the way of opportunities to use her favorite birding binoculars or her astronomy binoculars, of late. Doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy, though, what with all my music (a jazz group and possibly a blues group) and bringing a new puppy into the house (he is chewing on the hem of my bathrobe, as I write this). It just means I haven’t been outdoors as much as I like, though that is just a temporary thing. Besides, I still watch birds at the feeder with my compact binoculars and my spotting scope, through our kitchen window. It’s not as much fun as hitting the woods and hiking, but the birds don’t stop feeding just because of some soggy weather. Birdwatching never stops at our house.

The potential to watch birds, regardless of the weather or how busy you are with other things in your life, is one of the great advantages of birding and bird watching. For sure, I can’t think of another outdoor activity that can also be so easily practiced from indoors, too, once you have put up a bird feeder or two in the back yard and, make no mistake, a bird feeder attracts more than just birds. Wait until you see the squirrels and maybe rabbits, raccoons, opossum, and even deer if you live in the right neighborhood, once the word gets out with the local wildlife population that there is a new bird feeder in the neighborhood, so let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

Of all the field marks used to identify birds, either with binoculars, spotting scopes or the unaided eye, size is the least reliable. We humans just aren’t too good at estimating the size of an object unless is adjacent to another object of known size. That’s definitely the way it works with birds. Estimating the size of a single sandpiper on a mudflat, for instance, is risky business, especially if you are using the high magnification provided by a birding spotting scope. If there is a Killdeer, next to it, though, as there often is, you have a visual ruler of sorts to use as for a size estimate, since a Killdeer is a 10 1/2” inch bird. Be warned, though, that the Killdeer must be at the same distance as your mystery sandpiper in order to use it as a measuring stick and that can be sometimes hard to know for certain when using a spotting scope, since high magnification tends to make objects all appear at a similar distance, even when they are not. When in doubt, use field marks or identification clues other than size.

Even with birding binoculars, size can be misleading. When I first spotted a Pileated Woodpecker in our yard, it was high in a tree. Yes, it struck me as a large bird in the binoculars, but not overly so. It then flew down about twenty yards to perch on our birdfeeder – a very familiar object of known size – and the size of the bird took my breath away. Only then could I truly appreciate what a large bird it was. Yes, size can be misleading when it comes to birdwatching.

Everyone wants binoculars with the best possible optics for their hard earned dollar and, let’s face it, the first questions people ask when they want to buy a binocular are about the optics. Binocular optics are important, of course and, it is true that optics are the biggest part of a binocular price tag. No one wants a binocular with poor optics.

What about the rest of the binocular, though? Mechanical construction is equally important, especially if you are concerned about how long your new birding binoculars, hunting binoculars, marine binoculars and so on will last. It is mechanical or build quality that determines how long a binocular will last, not optical quality. When a binocular fails or is rendered useless, it is most often a mechanical issue and only rarely an optical issue. Even the optical failure that occurs when a binocular develops double images from misalignment is, in truth, a mechanical issue caused by prisms working loose in the housing or, in extreme cases, a bent or damaged housing.

So how do you check for binocular build quality? How can you determine how long it will last? Some parts of build quality will be obvious – the materials used in construction, the fit and finish of the binocular, how smoothly and evenly the binocular focuses, but, unfortunately, much of what it takes to build a quality binocular is on the inside and invisible. As to life span, that is even more of a guess, though the manufacturer’s reputation and reviews on a given model are good ways to make an estimate on how a binocular holds up under hard use. In the long run, though, price is still the best way to determine potential lifespan. For sure, if you use a binocular, hard and on a nearly daily basis, it never pays to go cheap, either in terms of optics and, especially, in terms of binocular mechanical construction and, typically, that cheap binocular fails when you need it most.

About the pic: It doesn't get any better when it comes to build quality than a Leica

The diopter adjustment on binoculars allows a binocular user to adjust the binocular for the user’s individual eyesight and, since most folks have one eye stronger than another, it is a must have feature on a serious binocular. Setting the diopter adjustment on binoculars, though, is seen by some newcomers as a mysterious, highly technical process, when, in fact, it is the height of simplicity. On a center focus binocular, as found on typical birding binoculars, simply use the main focus wheel to adjust the side of the binocular without the diopter adjusting mechanism, then use the side with the diopter adjusting mechanism to get that side also sharp and you are set. On individual eyepiece focus binoculars, as found on most astronomy binoculars and marine binoculars, simply select a target at least 100 yards distance and individually adjust both eyepieces until both sides of the binocular are clear.

The more precisely both sides are focused, the better, of course and this calls for more than just casually focusing at the landscape. That produces less than ideal results. Instead, use a target with fine detail, such as a sign with lettering, for best results. One of my favorite targets for this “sighting in”, though, is a night sky filled with stars. A star makes an ideal point source of light for adjusting the diopter on your binocular. Pick a star of low to medium brightness, rather than the brightest star as your target, since bright stars may produce a distorted image in many binoculars and that defeats the purpose.

There is more to owning a binocular than a list of binocular features, binocular quality or binocular brand, but only when you have owned and used a binocular long enough for it to become a good friend. Do you remember your first birding binoculars, hunting binoculars or astronomy binoculars? Odds are, those were not the best binoculars you ever owned, either, yet you would gladly have them back in your hands if you could, same as me. Those beginner binoculars, like my old Tasco 1040 porro prism binoculars, opened a whole new window in the natural world for many of us. How could we not have warm memories of all the things we discovered with them?

Like so many optics nuts, I sometimes become a little obsessed with those last few percentage points of binocular optical performance or binocular build quality and, in the process, tend to forget that I have much more binocular than I actually need to get any specific job done and done, well. When I think back to my first days of serious birdwatching and birding with those old Tasco binoculars, for instance, my inability to identify new birds actually had very little to do with the binoculars around my neck. Sure, I lusted after those Leitz binoculars (later to become Leica binoculars), down at the camera shop, but I doubt they would have identified any more birds for me. Looking back, I am relieved that I didn’t wait on my birding until I could afford expensive binoculars. That would have been a huge mistake. Come to think of it, that $30 I spent on those Tasco binoculars, back in the 60s, was the best thirty dollars I ever spent.

At four in the morning, the Beehive Cluster, M44, is easily visible in our dark, north country night sky, no astronomy binoculars or telescopes needed, though the view through just about any binoculars makes getting up at that crazy hour well worth the effort. This open star cluster fills the field of view in my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe, nicely, for instance.

Can you see this cluster from your backyard without any optical aid, assuming, of course, that you get up that early in the morning, this time of year and know exactly where to look? If you live in a fairly large urban area, probably not. Light pollution in a large city will render this cluster invisible to the naked eye and you will need the help of binoculars to see the cluster.

In the suburbs, you may or may not be able to spot the Beehive with the unaided eye, depending on the degree of light pollution in your suburb. In the Chicago suburbs, where I lived for six years, the answer was a definite no – I always needed binoculars and, even then, some nights were marginal - but in a smaller metro area, you may be able to spot the cluster without binoculars by using averted vision – looking at an object out of the corner of your eye, instead of looking directly at it. Why? The corners of your eyes have the greatest concentration of rod cells, the cells most sensitive to light.

Out in the country, where we currently live, the Beehive is an easy to see object with the naked eye, just as it has been for most of human history. It is something of a treat to see this same cluster that was seen by the Greeks and Romans, thousands of years, ago, but now, thanks to my astronomy binoculars, I can see it much better.

It is mid-October and our trees, up here in northern Wisconsin, have shed nearly all their leaves. It only takes a little imagination, now, to visualize what things will look like when the snow flies. This is all a little ahead of schedule for me, since this is my first autumn in the north country in a good many years. I’m sure this is old hat for local residents, but I am still in the process of resetting my calendar.

Without all those leaves, though, the forest has a more accessible feel that I like and the lack of leaves makes my birding and birdwatching that much easier. I can see much deeper into the canopy and undergrowth with my binoculars, now, and spot birds at greater distances. Yesterday, I added a Fox Sparrow to my local list with my Nikon 10x25 Premier LX as the bird was scratching though the undergrowth, back in the woods outside our yard. As I write, I can see Wood Ducks, down on the lake, as I peer through the now bare trees and shrubs along the shore with my Leica Ultravid 10x25 BL. It’s almost as if someone has lifted and curtain to the wildlife show around us. I suspect, though, that I will be more than happy to see the leaves return in the spring, along with the warblers, vireos and all my other summer birds. For now, though, I will grab the birding binoculars and just enjoy the show.

Has this guy been raiding your bird feeder?

Anyone who loves birdwatching and feeding birds in the back yard is very familiar with squirrels; you either love the little guys or you hate them, or so it would seem. I certainly don’t hate squirrels, though they sometimes try my patience. Guess you might say I have managed an uneasy truce with the cute little guys. As long as they stay out of my feeders and let me watch my birds in peace, they are welcome in the yard. After all, I didn't buy expensive birding binoculars or put a spotting scope on a tripod near the living room window to watch squirrels.

I have my feeders equipped with the latest in squirrel deterrent technology – not just one, but two of the latest design squirrel baffles. This setup keeps squirrels out of my feeders, about ninety-nine percent of the time, but it’s that last one percent that keeps me vigilant and ever thinking of ways to make things a hundred percent squirrel proof. So far, I have not succeeded and, I suspect I never will; squirrels have to be some of the most determined mammals on the planet when it comes to getting food. Most days I just use the "distract them by placing food on the ground" strategy so they lose interest in the feeders, but that is only a temporary fix. As soon as they have wiped the ground clean, they turn their eyes to my feeders.

Next to my main feeders and pole, I have another pole that I use to hang my hummingbird feeder. I’ve learned the hard way that I placed this pole and feeder too close – there is a gap of about six feet between poles. The squirrels now climb the hummingbird feeder pole to get to the other feeders on the other pole. How? They climb to the top of the hummingbird feeder pole, balance themselves precariously, and make a leap across that six foot gap to land on my other pole with its feeders. It’s as daring an act as any you’ll see at the circus and I have to give them credit for some guts and skill. In fact, not all the squirrels can do it. There is one individual gray squirrel, though, who can do it on a regular basis and he has had the gall to do it in front of all his buddies, so, of course, now they all climb the hummingbird feeder pole to see if they can also do it. I suspect it is a kind of a squirrel game of chicken they are playing.

Guess I’ll have to move that pole to eight feet and see what happens. I don’t want to ruin all their fun.

When you have a yard surrounded by north woods, what kind of birds do you get at your feeder? Why, woodpeckers, of course! In fact, we have every type of woodpecker found in Wisconsin in our yard, at one time or another, with the exception of the Red-headed Woodpecker, which is found in more agricultural areas/hardwoods forests and a couple of other woodpecker species which only rarely wander into our state during migration. Woodpecker visitors to our yard include the Downy Woodpecker, the Hairy Woodpecker, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and, of course, the impressive Pileated Woodpecker.

Woodpeckers make great birds for birdwatching at the feeders, especially for beginners. It can be hard to line up smaller, actively darting, fidgety birds like Chickadees and Nuthatches in the field of view of a binocular, at first, but woodpeckers usually park themselves at the feeder and work a bit before flying off to a nearby tree. In fact, some species of woodpeckers, can be downright hogs at the feeder. This gives you time to get the birds in the field of view of your birding binoculars for a good, long look. With the exception of the little Downy Woodpecker, these are also large birds and that also makes for impressive views in the binoculars. Want to try a little bird photography? These traits also make woodpeckers good subjects for some digiscoping. Lastly, woodpeckers are fascinating birds to watch, in their own right. For sure, my bird feeders would not be the same without them. Go buy some suet and see what happens at your feeders.

With the recent string of excellent nights and dark skies for working with my astronomy binoculars and telescopes, I have been playing catch up for all those years in the Chicago and Milwaukee, where light polluted skies are less than friendly for astronomy. I’ve been in such a frenzy, in fact, to take advantage of the clear dark skies, that I have been getting up late at night or, I should say, early in the AM, to see stars a sky that would normally be visible after dinner in the winter. This is possible, since the stars move slowly across the sky as the night progresses and because stars change through the seasons as well.

Most of my catch up strategy has been with the binoculars, sometimes mounted on a tripod, sometimes not, though I have taken my small refractor out a few times. It was the views I had become used to in astronomy binoculars, though, that I missed the most in my years of observing in the big city. Last night, I added one more tough object in M78, a reflection nebula in Orion. It takes a seriously dark sky to see this object in any binocular and the last time I had the right skies to view M78 was back in the mid-90s. No problem spotting M78, now, under my northern Wisconsin skies. It looks little more than a very faint, small comet in the binoculars, but it is visible, just the same and that gives me great satisfaction. I am home, at last.

Wood Ducks are moving through the area, this week, up here in northern Wisconsin. I can hear their alarm calls as I walk down the path to our dock and I see them flying over the lake all the time. Our shallow and weedy lake is not the right kind of lake for loons, but it a perfect lake for Wood Ducks and that is fine by me. Is there a more beautiful duck in the binoculars or the spotting scope than a Wood Duck? I don’t think so, especially against the backdrop of fall colors. If ever there was a single bird species to make a trip to the fall woods and stream to see, the Wood Duck is it. Just walk, quietly, along a woodland stream or the shores of a woodland pond, in early to mid-October, birding binoculars at the ready, and you will see Wood Ducks. In fact, fall is the best time to consistently see Wood Ducks, since they tend to travel in groups as they migrate during fall. In spring they are more likely to travel in pairs. Birdwatching simply doesn’t get any better in my book, but the Wood Ducks are gone by the time the calendar reads late October or November, so get out with the binoculars, now. Besides, do you really need an excuse to go for a walk in the October woods, anyway? I sure don’t.

I do my utmost to avoid using tripods with my astronomy binoculars. Being chained to an astronomy binocular tripod robs me of one of the great joys of using astronomy binoculars, instead of telescopes, and that is freedom of movement. There are times, though, when I must use a tripod. First, any time I am using more than 10 or 12x, these old arms and hands just can’t hold binoculars steady, enough. In fact, even with my 7x50, 10x50 or 10x70 astronomy binoculars, I will still add a tripod when doing precision work like counting stars in a cluster or trying to separate close double stars. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if all binocular deep-sky objects didn’t require more than 10x or so?

Sure, it would, but that’s not reality. True, a common 10x50 binocular, such as the Nikon 10x50 AE can see most common astronomy objects visible in a binocular and a 10x50 is a great choice as a general purpose astronomy binocular, but there are a handful of objects that are much easier to spot when bumping up that first binocular number to 15 or 20. These are typically the smaller deep-sky objects, namely some of the smaller globular clusters and planetary nebulae, not to mention that little toughie, M1, the Crab nebula.

Oh, yeah, I can see the Crab from my back yard with my very dark sky (and you must have a completely dark sky for this Messier object) in my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe, but at 10x, the Crab is small enough to easily be lost in the stellar background, especially since I can only steady that big 10x70 so much. You have to know exactly where it is to find it – casual scanning off of Xi Tauri won’t cut it. At 20x, though, in a typical 20x80, such as the Celestron Skymaster 20x80, there is enough image enlargement and separation from the background stars to make the Crab an obvious object, assuming, once again, that you are blessed with a dark sky (and don’t forget the tripod).

I’m a sucker for old, vintage optics that are in near new or mint plus condition. To me, it’s like stepping back in time to pick binoculars, film cameras, telescopes and so on that are in new, right out of the box condition. Some of these optical treasures I have found lack the technical features to be found on today’s binoculars, cameras and telescopes, but, on the other hand, some of the binoculars and, especially the film cameras are actually made better than the current models. Most of what I have found on vintage optics has been a matter of stumbling on them by accident, but recognizing what I have found is also a big part of taking something in another binocular or camera, home. For the most part, I have not gone looking for the old stuff.

My vintage B&L Custom Compact 7x26 (now the Bushnell Elite 7x26)– the original model with the Audubon logo – is a case in point. Bill and I were looking at a sofa bed at a garage sale when I spotted a binocular case back behind the items for sale, so I asked what was in the case, Though dusty and in serious need of cleaning, I could see that this classic compact binocular had nearly no wear and tear and, since the owner was willing to sell, I went home with yet another binocular. The little B&L binocular now sits by the window in the family room, ready to see birds at my feeders at a moment’s notice.

We are lucky to have a Barred Owl or two in our neighborhood. The call of these large owls is both eerie and exciting and a real treat to hear when we step outside in the evening or when I am observing with the astronomy binoculars or telescopes under a dark night sky. To me, this call ranks right up there with the serenades we sometimes get when coyotes visit the neighborhood.

It may surprise some folks to learn that there is such a thing as owling – birding for owls at night with large, low light style binoculars, (such as the Vortex Vulture 8x56) and often with calls to locate, identify and even attract owls, though I do not use calls. I prefer not to interrupt owls from their normal hunting patterns for the sake of seeing or hearing them. Instead, I usually just content myself with hearing them when they choose to call or seeing them when I am walking in the woods as I do my birdwatching during the day . I have no issues with those who do use calls to locate and identify owls, I just prefer to enjoy owls more, discreetly.

Regardless of your approach, owls are truly interesting birds and a marvel of the way some life forms have adapted to life at night. Count yourself lucky, too, if you have owls in your neighborhood.

We had some good friends from southern Wisconsin (Jefferson) stop up for a visit, overnight, and their timing, weather-wise, was perfect. Last night, we had a clear sky and enjoyed some great views of Jupiter and I gave them a tour of the other deep-sky objects in the early evening skies. Since most of the objects visible were directly overhead, due to the surrounding trees, I chose to use my small refractor telescope at low magnification, rather than the astronomy binoculars mounted on a photographic tripod. Just no way to get the binoculars angled high enough to see objects directly, overhead, when mounted on camera tripods and, besides, the right-angle viewing provided by the diagonal when using the telescope makes for much less stress on the neck. Perhaps it is time for Bill to build me a parallelogram style binocular tripod so I can better share the view through binoculars when friends visit.

This morning, the weather was calm and pleasant, just right for taking pics of the beautiful fall colors with the digital cameras and even got some good shots of deer in the yard, right in the middle of the day, while sipping coffee and visiting.

Only thing better than life in the north woods is sharing your life in the north woods with good friends.

Grabbed my astronomy binoculars, a couple of nights ago, from my excellent dark sky observing site and took a shot at spotting Comet Hartley 2. I saw it, though just barely, in my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe. It was a very faint smudge against the background of stars just below the constellation Cassiopeia and, at this point, visually, I would rate it as an object to see, just to say you saw it. It has a long, long way to brighten to make into a “must see” comet, in my book. Still, being a comet, Hartley 2 is unpredictable, so who knows what even the next week or so will bring? That’s all part of the fun and the magic of observing comets.

I have guests arriving, tonight and we will try to pick up the comet, again, given the forecast for clear skies. This time, though, though, I will probably set up the telescope at very low magnification, likely using my Televue Nagler 22mm eyepiece which gives me only 22x in my small refractor. If the comet flops, there are still a wealth of open clusters in that part of the sly to see; more than we are likely to spot before we get a little chilled. Temperatures have dipped below freezing, the last few nights. Fall does come early in the north country.

Birdwatching and photography, for me, are sometimes compatible and sometimes not. Just all depends on the type of photography I am doing. When digiscoping, with the spotting scope and digital cameras hooked, together, I am much more likely to use the birding binoculars around my neck, simply because my photographic targets are birds, anyway. When using traditional photo methods on targets other than birds, I rarely take the time to use my binoculars, even though I still carry a binocular around my neck. Yesterday, was a good example.

My targets, were waterfalls along the Lake Superior shore and I was loaded down with both digital cameras and film cameras, not to mention a tripod. It was all I could do to climb up and down some of the steep river banks to get a picture I wanted with all that gear; I simply couldn’t afford to concentrate on anything but taking the next step in my climb or risk a fall into the river. I have no regrets, though. I can do all the birding I want around my home, but getting a pic of a waterfall, such as Peterson Falls, above, near Hurley, Wisconsin is not an everyday thing. The good news is that it is now only a two hour drive from my home, so I will be back for more pics.