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

Most birders and bird watchers keep some type of list of birds they have seen. Keeping lists of birds seen is just plain fun and, if you know how to interpret them, bird lists can also be useful tools to make you a better birder, assuming you add a bit more information than bird species seen to your list. Thus, nearly all birders keep some type of bird list. Indeed, keeping a bird list in birdwatching is as traditional as carrying birding binoculars and field guides, though the number and types of list you keep is entirely up to you.

For instance, all serious birders keep a bird life list – a list of all the birds they have seen in their lifetime. In the same vein, some birders also keep yearly bird lists and even monthly bird lists of birds seen within a certain timeframe. Birders may also keep geographical bird lists for birds seen in a given location, say your state or even your backyard.

I have kept all of these lists, at one time or another and I continue to keep bird lists, though, these days, my backyard bird list is the one I most faithfully keep. It’s not a typical backyard bird list, though, given that we live out in the woods along a secluded north country lake. The only issue for me on this list is where to draw the boundaries. Is seeing a Loon out on the lake though my birding spotting scope count as a backyard bird? Is spotting a Bald eagle flying low over the yard that I don't need binoculars to see the white head count? I say, yes, because, after all, it is my bird list. You can define your backyard bird list the way that works for you.

Go ahead and keep some bird lists. Get creative. Have some fun.

There was a time when folks were not as generally obsessed with superb optical performance in binoculars as they are these days. You just didn’t see sophisticated discussion on edge sharpness, resolution, contrast, color correction, collimation, lens glass, lens coatings and so on the way you see it today. Contemporary binocular users are more informed, no doubt about it.

What accounts for this? Part of it, of course, is the internet and its ability to connect users so they can compare notes with one another. We are better informed because we can talk communicate with each other via binocular forum and discussion groups and, as a result, we have demanded more in the way of binocular optics. Then there is the fact that the optical bar in the world of binoculars has been raised, over and over, again by binocular engineers in their race to make the world’s best binocular. No doubt about it, today’s best binoculars really are better, optically, than the best of yesteryear. The binocular optically impossible of the past has now become optically possible of the present.

For instance, I remember a certain German binocular optical rep once telling me that you couldn’t make a binocular that was sharp and distortion free in both the middle of the binocular field and the edge of the binocular field. You just had to live with things being somewhat fuzzy and distorted at the edges. Optically impossible to have it both ways, he said.

Perhaps, so, but I could show him some current premium birding binoculars and hunting binoculars that are very nearly as good at the edge as they are in the middle of the field, so much so that you’d have to make a serious effort to see the difference. I think he would be shocked if he could look through some current binoculars. They really are that good.

Had a couple of friends visit us, yesterday, so we all went for a walk in the woods that surround our home to enjoy a little fall color. Even took our English Setter, Patch, along to give him his daily workout. Now, I’d like to report that it was a perfect day for a walk in the woods, but I can’t. Skies were cloudy and gray and it was raining, yes, raining. Okay, not exactly a day to be taking pics of fall color with our digital cameras or trying to spot birds in the binoculars, but our visitors were game, so off we went.

Me, I don’t mind the rain and misty weather, at all. I’ve wintered in western Oregon, in the Portland, Corvallis, Albany area. One thing I learned while there is that all outdoor activities continue right on through the rain and that includes bicycling, birdwatching, hiking, outdoor photography, fishing, kayaking and so on. Not much choice, since rain can stay for weeks at a time in the winter in that country, so you learn to adapt to the rain and get on with your life. That’s a very healthy attitude in my book.

So, here I am in the north woods in the rain, out with my friends and my trusty Nikon premier LX 10x25 and Panasonic digital camera and not minding the rain in the least. I did baby the camera and kept it covered with my coat, since it is not waterproof, but had not worry one about the Nikon binocular. Just wiped it off when I got back to the house and good as new. Thank-you, Nikon.

Saw a Palm Warbler in the Leica 10x25 Ultravid BL, this last week – one of the few warblers I have seen this fall. Spotted the bird in the alder brush, along the lakeshore, on a cold and blustery fall day while working my English Setter. Then spotted another and another, since these birds tend to travel in flocks

Now there is just something not quite right about using the word palm as a name for a bird that you see on the side of a lake in the north woods on a cold day. Palm, indeed! Of course, no one consulted these birds when they named them, but Palm is the name we’re officially using and that is that. Yes, I know that these birds winter in areas with palm trees, such as Florida, but they nest in the north woods during the summer, so that should count for something. :)

As warblers go, there are more colorful and spectacular birds in the birding binoculars than the Palm Warbler, but I’ve always liked the subtly elegant markings of this bird, all the same. Then, too, on a cold, blustery fall day in the north woods, I’m grateful for any warbler at all that I can see in the binoculars.

See you birds, next spring.

There are some birds that should definitely be heard, though you don’t often see them in the birding binoculars. Hearing birds, after all, is as much a birdwatching treat at times as seeing birds.

The Wood Thrush is definitely one of these birds. During the summer, not a day goes by, up here in our north woods home, that I fail to hear this bird’s wonderful song, but, try as I might to peer though the surrounding forest from the vantage point of our yard, just not a bird I see in the binoculars. Nope, if I want to actually see this bird in the binoculars, I have to grab the binoculars and take a walk in the woods. That’s easier said than done during the summer months, what with mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies, so most days I just content myself with some listening. I hardly feel deprived, though.

Strangely enough, this bird’s song reminds me, at times, of a Western Meadowlark song. The two birds are not closely related, though, so maybe it’s just the musician in me that notices a similarity or maybe it’s me being a little homesick for the prairie.

With the cold weather moving in and the change of seasons, the Wood Thrush is no longer singing in our area, though I did actually see one in the Nikon 10x25 Premier LX on my walk with the dog, yesterday. Could very well be the last Wood Thrush I see for the year. I’ll look forward to this bird returning to the neighborhood next spring, even if I don’t often see it in the binoculars.

As bird groups go, for the sake of birdwatching, some are more challenging to identify than others and some are, well, just more entertaining than others. Woodpeckers belong to the latter group. They’re active, visible, very vocal and a treat to watch, either with or without birding binoculars. That and the fact that they are easy to identify make Woodpeckers a great bird group for beginning bird watchers. That high visibility also makes Woodpeckers pretty good subjects for digiscoping with a spotting scope and digital cameras, should you want to get some pics.

Surrounded as we are by woods, we naturally have a good variety of Woodpeckers that visit our yard and our feeders on a daily basis. These include Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, an occasional Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and (drum roll, please), the spectacular Pileated Woodpecker. Of course, I encourage those visits by hanging suet feeders at various points around the yard, but, like I said, these are very entertaining birds to watch. Our yard wouldn’t be the same without them and their calls. No doubt about it, Woodpeckers are a bird watching treat.

If large objective lenses (front lenses, second binocular number) on binoculars have less to do with image brightness than many people think, as per yesterday's blog, why bother with large binoculars? After all, those objective lenses up front on binoculars are the most expensive component on a binocular. That’s why it costs more to opt for the larger version of any one particular binocular model. Those large objectives also add to binocular weight and overall binocular dimensions. So why buy binoculars on the large side?

The reason is resolution – the ability to make two closely spaced objects appear as two individual objects instead of one when looking through binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes and other optical instruments. Resolution is directly related to objective size. Larger binocular objectives offer better resolution than smaller binocular objectives, all else equal, namely lens quality. Yes, opting for high grade, premium compact binoculars with their excellent objective lenses can compensate a little for the loss of resolution that comes with small objective lenses, but only to a point. As much as I love my excellent Nikon Premier LX10x25 with it’s excellent resolution for a compact, it is still a compact with only 25mm objective lenses. It can’t keep up with my equally excellent Nikon Premier 10x42 SE when it comes to seeing fine detail or even a much more pedestrian Nikon Monarch 10x42. Nope, not even close. The difference is immediately seen. You can only squeeze so much out of 25m objectives.

Resolution by the way, is not the same thing as image sharpness though the two terms are often, and incorrectly, used interchangeably. In fact, a lens with better resolution may appear less sharp because it will reveal imperfections on the sharp edges of objects that cannot be seen in a lesser quality lens.

Still a bit fuzzy about resolution and objective size? Here’s a good example of resolution in action. Astronomy binoculars are all about large objective lenses and resolution and rightfully so. The star Albireo in the constellation Cygnus demonstrates this, nicely. In my 10x25 Nikon Premier LX or my beloved Leica Ultravid 10x25 BL, the star Albireo is a single point of light and never anything but, no matter how carefully I focus or steady the binoculars. In my Nikon Astroluxe 10x70 mounted on astronomy tripod, however, Albireo’s true nature is revealed as the double star it is with two closely spaced components. The Astroluxe just separates the two components, but they are clearly seen as two individual stars, instead of a single point of light.

That’s resolution for you.

One of the great binocular myths is that larger binoculars are automatically and inherently brighter than smaller binoculars, because larger binoculars produce larger exit pupils – the beams of light that leave the binocular eyepieces and enter your eyes. That means that a binocular with a 7mm exit pupil (to get exit pupil, divide the second binocular number by the first) must be brighter than a binocular with a 5mm exit pupil and a binocular with a 5mm exit pupil is brighter than a binocular with a 3mm exit pupil. Simple, right? Go to many articles and primers on binocular basics and you’ll find image brightness in binoculars explained just this way.

Sorry, it's not that simple. The truth is that the relationship between image brightness and binocular image brightness is anything but automatic. Why? To say a binocular has a 5mm exit pupil is to say that the diameter of the exit pupil is 5mm wide and nothing more. It doesn’t tell you how much light that 5mm exit pupil is carrying, nor does it tell you how uniformly that light is spread over that diameter of 5mm. If you doubt this, just take a dozen different models of binoculars with that same 5mm exit pupil and you’ll find amazing differences in image brightness, one to the next, assuming that you are testing them under conditions dark enough to show the differences, using your eyes (which may be more or less sensitive to light than mine). Yes, there are many optical factors beyond exit pupil size that affect image brightness in binoculars. As a result, small, premium quality compact binoculars, made with the best lenses and lens coatings and internal baffling to reduce stray light, can, in fact, outperform larger binoculars with lesser quality lenses and coatings and so on when it comes to image brightness.

Yes, there are optical advantages to larger lenses, larger binoculars and larger exit pupils, but image brightness is not automatically one of them. If you need more low light performance, as you often do in hunting binoculars or even astronomy binoculars, be sure to consider more than exit pupil size.

Amateur astronomers typically have a technical, scientific side, as you might expect, since astronomy is, after all, a science. What most people don’t realize is that amateur astronomers also have a very aesthetic side that greatly influences the equipment they choose.

I certainly have a scientific side, being a former science teacher. Still, it is actually my creative, aesthetic side that keeps me glued to the telescope eyepiece, night after night, and it is my aesthetic side greatly influences my equipment choices. Astronomy binoculars or setup & use a telescope as I prepare for a night of astronomy? Telescopes offer the most pleasing view for some objects, the binoculars for others. That’s why I own and use both.

Last night was a good example. There is an open cluster in the constellation Andromeda, namely NGC 752 that is not overly bright or all that densely packed with stars, even as open clusters go. I could easily list dozens of open star clusters that are more spectacular. Still, there is something about this cluster that appeals to me. That’s why I sought it out, last night, before the moon was up in the sky and the sky still dark.

I did setup & use a telescope – my Televue telescope – but, while the view this superb refractor telescope produced was certainly detailed enough, it was not all that “pleasing” to my eye. On the other hand, the view in my Nikon Astroluxe 10x70 binocular, though much less detailed, framed the cluster against a backdrop of dark, interstellar space that framed the cluster just right to my eyes. Not very scientific, perhaps, but oh so effective.

It may seem an odd thing to say, but the last few weeks have not been good for mosquitoes and other insects due to the dry weather. Not that I miss mosquitoes, mind you, but I have been wondering if an environment that was a bit more “buggy” might bring more birds my way and improve the birdwatching. Just haven’t been seeing much action with the birding binoculars or birding spotting scope, so far this fall.

There have been flocks of Wood Ducks gathering on the lake and I’ve been watching them in the binoculars and spotting scope and the regular bird crew at the bird feeders continue to keep me hopping to keep everyone happy, but things have just been a bit slow with the binoculars. Okay, call me a bit impatient.

On the other hand, the dry weather has been good for the fall color and we already have some maples and oaks beginning to do their fall thing. We did have a good rain, overnight, but I don’t think it will put too much of a damper on the color. Oh, yeah, as you can see in the pic, above, the green is fading fast on the maples.

Oh, well, if I can’t have a great fall for bird watching, I’ll have a great fall with my digital cameras. I win, either way.

Binoculars, good binoculars I should say, have an amazing life span as consumer products go, better than cars and certainly much better than electronic marvels such as televisions, computers and so on. That makes buying binoculars of even moderate quality a good investment in the long haul.

Take my fine old Bausch&Lomb Custom Compact 7x26 binocular, (now the Bushnell Elite Custom Compact, by the way) . It dates back to the early ‘90s and works just as well, now, as the day it came out of the box. When I found at a garage sale for a ridiculous price of $5, it was filthy, but knowing binoculars as I do, I could see that underneath all the dirt and grime was a nearly mint condition binocular. Needless to say, I took it home and use it right along with my other premium compact binoculars and that’s saying a lot, given that I have Leica binoculars, Swarovski binoculars, Nikon Premier binoculars and Zeiss binoculars in the same general compact size range.

Now compare that to my ’96 Ford Probe. It, too, is in mint condition with a mere 48,000 miles on it and that because it spends most of its time sitting in the garage. I really should be driving the Probe, more, but I don’t, because I no longer commute to a job every day, now that I am retired. Sitting around won’t hurt binoculars in the least, but not so for cars. The Probe suffers from old age, use it or not, despite its like new appearance. Parts don’t get the lubrication they need, parts rust and corrode, fluids stagnate and so on. As a result, when I do drive the Probe, I never know when something will fail, next. It’s a long way from being as reliable as the day it was driven off the car lot, let me tell you.

On the other hand, the B&L Custom Compact is doing just fine, thank-you and I expect it'll be around for many years to come.

I own excellent roof prism binoculars and excellent porro prism binoculars and I have no problem stating that porro prism binoculars are, optically, still my favorite binoculars. Porro prisms binoculars are brighter for any given size and contrast always seems just a touch better, thanks to the fact that they don’t have to employ a mirror to make things work, as do roof prism binoculars.

For instance, the first time I picked up the Nikon Premier Se 8x32 – a superb porro prism binocular - I was shocked. It was noticeably brighter and had better contrast than my equally superb and much, much larger 8x50 roof prism binocular of, well, let’s just say German manufacture. This in a side by side test, too. Now, I would have expected that a good 8x32 might come close to a good 8x50 in terms of brightness and contrast, but exceed it? No way. Needless to say, that was one 8x32 binocular that quickly found a new home.

Despite their optical advantages and relatively lower prices, high grade porro prism binoculars are a vanishing species. The premium binocular market is now overwhelmingly dominated by roof prism binoculars and, yes, I’ll be the first to admit the roof prism binoculars do have their advantages. Still, I think there are plenty of birders out there who have yet to discover what good porro prism birding binoculars can do. I hate to think the day might come when premium porro prism binoculars disappear from the market.

Yes, I know there are those that claim that top notch roof prisms will do just as well as any porro prism binocular made and, given the state of technology in today's binoculars, that's probably true, but I still love porro prism binoculars. Each to their own.

Today’s binoculars are more technically advanced than binoculars of the past, even binoculars made in the ‘90s, no doubt about it. We now have binoculars with better glass and, especially, high performance glass formulations such as HD, ED and so on that we didn’t see in the ‘90s. We are also beginning to venture into the world of flat field optical designs with better correction for distortion at the edge of the field. Oh, yeah, we never had it so good in the binocular world.

Does all this mean you should sell your binoculars that you bought back in the ‘80s and ‘90s and rush out to buy binoculars with a 2011 vintage?

Yes and no.

Yes, by all means, if you are unhappy with your old binoculars or just happen to be in the market to add another binocular to what you already own, go right ahead and buy binoculars to suit your needs, but do it, now. You will definitely be paying more for the same quality of binoculars that you bought ten or twenty years, ago, but the quality is still there. Yes, they really do make binoculars like they used to make them, only they will cost more and, by the way, if you are waiting for prices to come down on new binoculars, well, that will happen when binoculars can fly.

No, none of these improvements in performance makes your old binoculars obsolete. If you bought quality binoculars in the ‘80s or ‘90s and are happy with them, keep them. I have some ‘80s and ‘90s vintage binoculars that still hold their own with all the new stuff. Good optics are still basically good optics and things haven’t changed enough in twenty years to make me want to retire my older binoculars and I am a fussy optical nut. I see just as much in my old birding binoculars and astronomy binoculars and I'm glad I bought them when I did. It would cost a fortune to replace them, now.

I need a pal for the binoculars in this picture.

I've been looking to buy another astronomy binocular with a bit more magnification that would be a worthy partner to this Nikon Astroluxe 10x70, but unfortunately, very few premium class astronomy binoculars remain on the market. Classic premium astronomy binocular choices, such as the Zeiss 15x60, Takahashi 22x60 and even another Astroluxe with higher magnification, such as the Nikon Astroluxe 18x70 have been discontinued and can only rarely be found used. I’ve been looking at several excellent high magnification Fujinon binoculars – very popular in astronomy circles – but the higher magnification models just don’t provide the eye relief I need for use with my glasses.

Not that I have anything against the many excellent astronomy binoculars coming out of China in the Oberwerk binoculars, Celestron binoculars, Konus binoculars and Barska binoculars lines. Those are incredible values and I doubt I could see more in the way of things in the sky with the more expensive stuff, but I’ve been badly spoiled by the build quality and over the top kind of optics you get with premium astronomy binoculars. I’m willing to pay more, not because I need that kind of quality and performance, but because I want that kind of quality and performance.

Being an optics nut can be a terrible thing. For darn sure, it is always an expensive thing.

How much should I pay for binoculars? This is always the big question when it comes time to buy binoculars, of course. You can answer this question in many ways, but I think the best approach is to consider how often and how hard you expect to use binoculars, keeping in mind that some binocular applications are harder on binoculars than others. In other words, when it comes to binoculars, spend according to your needs.

Certainly, if you expect to use binoculars on a daily basis you are way ahead to pay whatever it takes to get the best. All binoculars, even cheap binoculars, are some of the best values going in terms of cost versus use, but expensive binoculars are made, specifically, to last a lifetime of hard use. Yes, expensive binoculars cost a bunch, up front, but in terms of down the road value, they are often the cheapest binoculars in the long run. Just as importantly, when you have a lot riding on your binoculars - as in they better darn be there when you really need them - it is a huge mistake to buy cheap. I’ve heard many a tale of woe when a big hunting or birding trip was ruined because cheap binoculars failed at the worst time. Keep in mind, too, that when you are out in the wilderness, it’s not like you can just run into a store for replacement binoculars.

A word of warning if you do decide to take the plunge and buy premium hunting binoculars or birding binoculars. Do not leave them in a vehicle even for the few minutes it might take to go into a station and pay for some gas. I’ve also heard too many stories of vehicle windows being broken when a thief spots binoculars laying on a seat. It does happen, believe me.

On the other hand, low-priced binoculars are just fine for light use or every now and then use. Going on vacation? Headed to the ball game? Going hiking a couple times a year? Sports binoculars and compact binoculars even in the $100 -$150 range will last you for years.

When it comes to binoculars, spend according to your needs.

I’m not sure what caused me to wake at 4:30 in the morning, overnight, but, since I was up, I got into my slippers and bath robe and took a peek outside to check on the sky.

Whoa! It was brilliant and covered with what we would normally see in early winter for constellations because of the lateness of the hour. Dew and humidity in the air made for less than great transparency, but darned if I was going to let that stop me. I grabbed my astronomy binoculars and one of my small refractor telescopes and stepped out onto the deck.

The constellation Auriga was high in the sky, so I went right to work with my Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe on those glorious open star clusters, M37, M36 and M38. For comparison sake, I also looked at these same star clusters with one of my refractor telescopes at a mere 24x with my favorite wide-angle telescope eyepiece. Was there a difference?

Oh, yes. Just that modest increase in magnification made a world of difference. That extra 14x or so brought out more of the character of the open clusters, but, of course, I had to work harder to get it. You see, you have to be something of a contortionist to scrunch your neck down under a finder scope mounted on a telescope that is pointed at an object high, overhead. The binoculars, on the other hand, being handheld and not wedded to a tripod and mount, were a joy to use. Score one for the binoculars.

M1, the Crab nebula, is just below Auriga, so that was my next stop. At 10x in the binoculars, this one is more of a challenge. It takes truly dark skies and excellent seeing conditions to spot M1 in a 10x binocular. Last night, I had the skies, but not the seeing conditions. It bounced in and out of sight in the binoculars using my best technique, but at 24x in the telescope, though, it was an easy object. Score one for the telescope.

Different objects, different tools. That’s why I use both astronomy binoculars and telescopes for astronomy.

One of the many things I enjoy about birdwatching is that you can participate at any level you choose. You can, for instance, get on a plane and make one of those dream trips to the rainforests of Costa Rica or, you can just stay at home and enjoy watching birds at the feeders with your binoculars, right from the kitchen table as you sip your coffee. I’ve never been on one of those dream trips to the rainforest, but if hours spent at the kitchen table, birding binoculars in hand, watching birds at the feeder counted, I’d be the president of the kitchen bird watching club. If there isn’t such a club, maybe I should start one. Want to join? Here's what you need.

Other than some binoculars, any binoculars, even compact binoculars or sports binoculars - you can worry about fancy birding binoculars, later - you’ll need some bird feeders in the yard, of course, and a window with a view to keep an eye on them. You don’t even have to know and identify the different types of birds to enjoy watching birds, but being able to identify the various species adds to the fun. If you do take the time to learn the various birds that visit your feeder, you’ll be amazed at just how unique each species is. Don't have money for a bird guide? Go on line to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's super, All About Birds on the internet and read, away. It's an awesome website.

In this day and age of economic and environmental stress, activities that we can enjoy, right at home, that allow us to make a connection with the natural world and keep our carbon footprint small, are pure gold. Back yard bird watching is right near the top of that list.

I’ve already been prowling the woods with the binoculars in hopes of spotting some fall migrating warblers. In the past, I usually did this kind of birdwatching in mid to late September, but, of course, that’s when I was living in more southerly latitudes. So far, haven’t seen too much, but that’s the nature of fall birding. It’s often a hit and miss thing and the only way to beat the odds is to spend plenty of time in the woods with your birding binoculars. Okay, twist my arm, right?

The season is changing, though, as I write this. The ferns that cover the forest floor have started to turn brown and a few hardwood trees are even showing a speck of color. The water lilies out on the lake have begun to recede and I swear some of the tamaracks have begun to drop their needles.

Okay, sure, I may be jumping the gun, but I’ve even been toting the spotting scope and tripod down to the dock in hopes of seeing some migrating waterfowl. One thing I can promise, though. When the birds do start to migrate, I’ll be out there to see it.

My summer birdwatching is over and, I have to say, it has been a good summer with the birding binoculars and the spotting scope. Summer is the time of year to observe your resident birds and, as far as that goes, we are blessed, here in the north woods to have some wonderful birds.

Most of my bird watching these last three months has centered around our bird feeders, with walks through the woods, mosquitoes allowing, and an occasional foray down to the dock with the spotting scope to mix things up a bit. No, can’t say that I spotted anything unusual in the binoculars or birding spotting scope, but my usual, out here in the north woods, is pretty darn good. Location, location, location applies as much to birding as it does to real estate.

I’ve been especially pleased to have had my Goldfinches stay all summer at the feeders. I’ve lived in some locations where it was just darn hard to get Goldfinches into the yard, period, so mission accomplished with the Goldfinches. Same for our resident White-breasted Nuthatches and, especially, Red-breasted Nuthatches. All our woodpecker species were with us through the summer, too, and that’s quite a list in itself. Not a day passed, for instance that I didn’t hear the constant kuk, kuk, kuk of the big Pileated. At night, we nearly always heard the calls of our resident Barred Owls.

On to fall, and all the migrating birds it will bring.

Okay, need is a funny word, one that is open-ended as to its definition. For instance, if was to answer the above question strictly from a minimalist point of view, I could probably do everything I do with binoculars with a single binocular, say an 8x42 waterproof roof prism binocular like the venerable Nikon Monarch 8x42. Yes, I would sorely miss my more expensive Swarovski binoculars, Leica binoculars and Zeiss binoculars, but the Nikon would get the job done as far as identifying birds. That's the primary job of birding binoculars, after all. As astronomy binoculars go, an 8x42 would be a bit small, but still useful. As a traveling binocular, an 8x42 would definitely not fit in my purse, but I could still manage it by carrying, say, two purses. (My husband would tease me without mercy, too.)

I don’t own just one binocular, though. Far from it. For one thing, I am very fussy about having the best binocular, the right binocular for every job, right down to the compact binoculars I do carry in my purse or wear around my neck so often. For another, well, I love binoculars and could no more limit myself to a single binocular than to a single outdoor activity.

So, how many binoculars do I need, personally?

Don’t ask.