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

If it weren’t for the chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers, my bird feeders would be awfully quiet and my winter birdwatching would be practically nonexistent. My binoculars and I would like to thank those birds for keeping things lively around here all winter long.

Of course, we do have other birds that stay with us throughout much of the winter. One of these is the Mourning Dove. On the Great Plains, where I spent much of my life, Mourning Doves were migratory. A little cold weather and the birds boogied south in a hurry. I remember a Christmas bird count or two in Nebraska when no Mourning Doves were seen.

Our north woods Mourning Doves, though, seem to be made of hardier stuff. I’ll be able to enjoy seeing them in the birding binoculars all winter long assuming I keep the feeders full. Still, after spending so much of my life on the prairie where it was unusual to a Mourning Dove in the winter, I can’t help but be amazed to still see these birds when the temperatures drop to zero.

Time to fill those feeders. We have some snow in the forecast.

We still have a little open water on the lake, though the open water comes and goes as the temperature plays hide and seek with the freezing point these last couple of weeks.

The open water has been attracting flocks of Mallards and rarely a day goes by that I don’t see our local pair of Bald Eagles. The eagles are often close enough to identify them as adults without the help of binoculars, but what a sight they are in the binoculars, just the same!

Birding binoculars aren't just for birdwatching, you know. They also make great wildlife binoculars. Good birding binoculars make for good wildlife binoculars. For instance, we have three otters that work the lake on a regular basis. They are a treat to watch in the binoculars and, now and then, I see them in the spotting scope, too. Is there any animal that can swim with such speed and agility as an otter? Maybe a mink, but, of course, a mink is a small relative of the otter, anyway.

I’ve also been seeing a lot of muskrats sitting out on the ice near their air holes. They’re not as exciting to watch in the binoculars as the otters, but they wear such a rich, luxuriant coat of fur, that I can’t help but envy them on these cold winter days. In the binoculars, I can often see them munching on some of the abundant water plants in our lake, especially the shoots of Arrowhead. No shortage of this plant on our lake, so I know these little guys won’t starve.

The north wind is kicking up a fuss, this morning, but Patch, my young English Setter doesn’t care. Time to grab one of my compact binoculars and take him for his daily run in the woods. Watching him work the woods with such joy and passion keeps me young.

I’ve always been a fan of doing astronomy with binoculars and doing it without the hassle of using astronomy binocular tripods. Sure, there are times when using a tripod for your astronomy binoculars does wonders for seeing fine detail – yes, I do use a tripod when necessary - but the freedom of just grabbing your binoculars and then walking out into the yard to do astronomy is truly a joy. Just point your binoculars to the sky and scan at will. It’s quick, easy and oh so effective. You're doing astronomy in a matter of a couple of minutes.

The trick to doing this handheld binocular astronomy is to keep binocular magnification and size down to where you can easily use the binoculars without the support of a tripod. Most folks find that 10x to, say, 12x (first binocular number) is about max for the sake of steadiness and as for size/weight, try something in the neighborhood of 50 mm to 70 mm objective (second binocular number). My Nikon Astroluxe 10x70 is right at the limit of what I can handle for weight, so I often just pull out a reclining lawn chair and use the chair arms to help me support the weight of the binoculars. Talk about taking it easy!

To be honest, I could probably see just about as much with a good 10x50 binocular and do it with less size and weight than my 10x70. Might even get to retire the lawn chair with a 10x50.

Hmmm! Is there another astronomy binocular in my future?

An 8x40 or 8x42 waterproof roof prism binocular is about as universal as it gets in the binocular world. This may or may not be the very best choice for a specific application, but this binocular can be used for any binocular application and I do mean any. An 8x42 waterproof roof prism binoculars is a great choice if you’re looking for birding binoculars or hunting binoculars or sports binoculars. In a pinch, a waterproof 8x42 can even be used as marine binoculars. Lot's of great choices in this size, too, under $200. Try the Nikon Prostaff 7 8x42 , the Vortex Crossfire 8x42 or the Bushnell Trophy XLT 8x42 to name just a few.

I’ve also used an 8x42 as an astronomy binocular, but if astronomy is part of the picture, I like a 10x50 a bit more. A waterproof 10x50 is still a good choice as a do everything binocular, if you don’t mind the extra size and weight. A great choice, here, is the Nikon 10x50 Action Extreme and you still have a binocular that can be used for most day uses. This Nikon binocular has established a good reputation in the astronomy community as a good, affordable first astronomy binocular and rightfully so.

If size is important for your binocular user, we'll take a look at compact binoculars in an upcoming blog.

Birdwatching implies a sense of observing birds from a distance, typically with binoculars or spotting scopes. That, of course, is exactly what bird watching is all about. Feeding birds via a bird feeding station and then watching them can be done without the birding binoculars or a birding spotting scope, of course, but most of us who feed birds still enjoy seeing them up close in the binoculars.

The birds at our feeder, though, have become so tame that they simply hop over to the next feeder and wait while I fill an adjacent feeder. Distance? Arm’s length, if you can call that a distance. To be sure, the birds are not so tame as to sit on my shoulder. In fact, they chatter and buzz at my presence, almost as if they were scolding me and telling me to hurry up and fill the darn feeder because they are hungry. Just who do I think I am to interrupt their feeding time?

Of course, I have no idea what they are actually thinking, but I find it quite amusing. I also take it as something of a compliment - they recognize me, as an individual and associate my presence with more bird seed. That doesn’t exactly make me their friend, but I do get a kick out of it. It makes me feel a little special. By comparison, when my bear of a husband approaches, they quickly depart as if to say that human is not the one that feeds us!

I suspect that I could get the birds to eat out of my hand with a little encouragement, but I prefer to keep wild things wild. It makes things more enjoyable for me when I do step back and watch them with my binoculars.

About the pic: A Red-breasted Nuthatch keeps an eye on me while I fill one of the other feeders.

I’ve always associated Thanksgiving with birdwatching, though the irony of sitting down to eat a bird after you’ve been watching birds in the binoculars is not lost on me. Truth is, I’m not much on eating meat, but my husband sure is, so the turkey is in the oven as I write this.

In years, past, I’ve always celebrated a day off work that Thanksgiving brings to get out with the birding binoculars, even if only for an hour or two. Just depended on how much of the cooking I had to do and how much company we had. Some years, all I managed to do was sneak a peek or two through my compact binoculars at the feeders outside the kitchen window. In other years, when I had to celebrate Thanksgiving alone, I stayed out in the woods as long as I could and worked hard to find birds in the binoculars or spotting scope. It was just too depressing to sit around the house by myself on Thanksgiving. Thank heavens those days are over.

Today, Bill and I are with each other. The turkey is in the oven. The birds are working the feeders and Bill and I both steal glances at them with out binoculars. Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The element of surprise is one of the many reasons I love birdwatching. On any given day, you may see the unexpected in the binoculars or spotting scope. The other side of that coin, of course, is that there are no guarantees when it comes to birdwatching. Birds deal with the world and their lives without regard to us. Thank heavens for that.

This fall bird migration has been one of my slowest fall bird migrations in terms of both numbers and variety of birds seen in the birding binoculars. Weather patterns play such a big role in the fall migration, so I suspect the weather simply pushed birds on by our location and never gave them a chance to stop. So be it. I’ll catch a lot of those birds on their way back this spring.

In the meantime, we are in our winter birding pattern, here in northern Wisconsin. We’ve had snow on the ground for awhile, now, compliments of a couple of storms, and our lakes are icing up as I write this. Winter birdwatching is also very weather dependant as far as what birds you see at the feeders, but I’m having a great time watching the usual gang of birds at the feeders, so I say let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

About the pic: Mourning Doves are not generally considered hardy birds, but even up here in northern Wisconsin, we manage to have a couple at our feeders throughout the winter.

I’ve seen more bucks this week than in the previous two years we’ve been here and this last one is the biggest, yet. Through the binoculars, I could see three points on each side with a couple of tiny spurs too small too count. Distance was about twenty yards.

So, just how useful are binoculars for counting points on a rack? At the usual 8x or 10x in hunting binoculars, counting points is going to be a short range proposition. Unless we are talking really large tines, even a hundred yards is pushing it. If you really need to count all the points at typical rifle ranges, including the small ones, you’ll generally need the magnification of a spotting scope. Another good option is a higher magnification image stabilized binoculars. That way no need to mess with a tripod.

On the other hand, if all you want is a rough idea of rack size or you just need to check if there is a rack at all when trying to fill a bucks only deer tag, conventional 8x or 10x hunting binoculars will do just fine.

Woodpeckers are such wonderful birds to watch and observe in the binoculars – they’re bright and colorful, often quite vocal and oh so active. Woodpeckers are truly a birdwatching delight and I never pass up a chance to watch them in my birding binoculars. Our neighborhood would be a dreary place, indeed, without our mix of woodpeckers.

We are fortunate to have an impressive mix of woodpeckers around the house. At any time during the day and in any season of the year, you are likely to see a Downy Woodpecker, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Red-bellied Woodpecker and the always spectacular Pileated Woodpecker. During migration and in the summer, you can add a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Northern Flicker to the mix. That makes our neighborhood a woodpecker Grand Central Station.

Woodpeckers are also regulars at our feeders, with the exception of the Northern Flicker and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Those two have diets that are tough to supply at the feeders. I’ve also had better luck keeping the big Pileated Woodpeckers in the yard by setting up a separate suet feeder on a large pine trunk. That provides these large woodpeckers with a better perch than can be had with a pole feeder.

Woodpeckers are not much of a challenge to identify in the binoculars. Any binocular at all can be used to watch these birds. For instance, I often just use one of my compact binoculars just because they're handy.

When it comes to fun in bird watching, woodpeckers can’t be beat.

The trio of otters and the pair of Bald Eagles that we’ve had on our lake for the last month continue to provide Bill and I with great views through the binoculars. Lots of deer activity to view in the binoculars, this week, since the rutting season is in full swing. Never get tired of watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders with the binoculars, either.

Binoculars, binoculars, binoculars. I’ve never actually taken a count of how many times a day I reach for one of my compact binoculars or birding binoculars to look at something out in the yard or out on the lake, but whatever the number is, I’m sure it qualify me as a heavy binocular user. Kick in all the times I use my astronomy binoculars at night and you have the makings of a binocular nut. Yup, that’s me, a binocular nut. Just hard for me to put my binoculars down.

This isn’t a recent affliction. It’s been an almost lifelong thing, stretching back some forty years to the day I bought my first binoculars. When I see something of interest, I just have to grab the binoculars and take a closer look. That’s a lot of looking since I find just about everything in Nature to be interesting.

About the pic: Don't have the heart to throw away old, beyond repair binoculars - a sure sign of a binocular nut.

Guess the word in the deer world is out, something to the effect of check out all the does hanging out at Joanie and Bill’s place. Yup, we spotted yet another buck in the binoculars, yesterday. It wasn’t much of a trophy, but it was a buck. Through the Nikon Monarch 3 10x42 we could see that it was just a yearling with one lone spike – nothing on the other side. No mistaking it was a buck, though. It’s neck was all swollen and it was hot on the trail of the does that are daily visitors to our yard.

Ah, November in Wisconsin! Wildlife is everywhere and, in fact, often right in our yard. If it is not the deer, it’s the otters and eagles out on the lake or the squirrels and birds at the feeder and, yes, even a bear at times. Neighbors have also reported seeing moose and fisher in the area. No wonder my birding binoculars see so much use other than birdwatching.

Always something to see in the north woods. That’s why we live, here.

We have a cold front pushing through our area that will bring strong winds and much colder temperatures. Yippee!

I really mean it. These cold fronts tend to trigger bird migrations and that, of course, is good for me, my birdwatching and my birding binoculars. Things have just been too quite, lately. We need to get some new birds in the binoculars and the spotting scope. A little more variety at the bird feeders, please, and out on the lake, too.

All I’ve been seeing out on the lake this week is a pair of Bald Eagles and few Mallards. Poor me, right? Actually, seeing Bald Eagles over the lake when you look through your kitchen window is one heck of a thrill. Is their anything quite as glorious as seeing a Bald Eagle in the binoculars? Okay, maybe seeing a Golden Eagle or a Prairie Falcon or a Peregrine or a …

Guess a girl can’t see enough birds in her binoculars. Keep ‘em coming.

Watching otters through the binoculars or a spotting scope is not birdwatching, of course, but it is one heck of a lot of fun, especially when those otters are out on the ice, sliding on their bellies and diving back into holes. We’ve had three otters on our small lake, and sometimes four, this last month and they’ve kept me and the birding binoculars busy in an otherwise slow fall bird watching season.

So have the squirrels. We have at least two or three squirrels in our yard throughout the day, both Gray Squirrels and the smaller, feisty Red Squirrels. One of our Gray Squirrels is actually black in color which makes for an even more interesting mix.

Squirrels may be enemy number one for some folks who feed birds and I know some locals who actually shoot the Red Squirrels to keep them from getting into attics and garages where they really can do a lot of damage, but I actually feed our squirrels, so I’m not about to shoot them. Besides, even if you don’t like squirrels in the yard, you do have to admit they are handsome little acrobats when seen through the binoculars.

About the pic: one of our Red Squirrels

My lake birdwatching has slowed, considerably, thanks to a coat of ice that forms on our lake each night. The ice disappears as the day progresses and the temperature rises, but it is only a matter of time before the ice stays on the lake, full time. Winter is coming; we even had our first snow last week as you can see in the pic.

So now I turn the binoculars and the spotting scope inland to the bird feeders in our yard and surrounding forest. It may not be winter as far as the calendar goes, but it is definitely winter in our yard at the bird feeders. I am ready. There is a good supply a bird seed in the garage and I have compact binoculars or my larger birding binoculars at hand near every window in the house.

Okay, yes, that's a lot of binoculars, but, no, I didn’t buy binoculars specifically for every window in the house. I’m a bit of a fanatic about birds and binoculars, true, but I’m not that crazy. It’s just that I already have the binoculars, so why not put them all to good use?

This does bring up a good point, though. If you have bird feeders, you should keep those birding binoculars, ready to go, near the window you most often use to watch your birds. Birds at a feeder can disappear as suddenly as they appear. They aren’t inclined to wait while you rush into the other room to uncase and retrieve your binoculars.

Interpupillary distance adjustment (IPD) on binoculars is a fancy way of describing the feature on binoculars that allows you to open and close the two halves of the binocular so they fit your eyes. That’s why all binoculars – birding binoculars, compact binoculars, hunting binoculars, astronomy binoculars and so on - are made with a center hinge that allows you to open or close the two barrels on the binoculars as needed.

Most instruction manuals and many binocular experts simply tell you to set the IPD so that you see a nice round circular field of view instead of two partial circles and let it go at that. That advice will get you in the right ball park, but it falls a bit short of the optimum setting. If you really want to get the most out of your binoculars, you need to get a little fussy about the proper IPD adjustment.

The proper IPD setting on your binoculars is the one that produces the least eye strain for your eyes and, only rarely, is this the widest possible adjustment that produces a perfectly circular field of view. This is where most folks go wrong. We tend to open the binoculars to the widest possible setting to get that big, wide field of view. It’s almost a reflex. Unfortunately, the widest setting is typically not the best setting for your eyes.

So, what to do? First, open your eyes wide and try to relax the muscles that focus your eyes – no squinting or straining. This is something you need to consciously do because many of us tend to squint to some degree without even knowing it. Then, focus the binoculars on a target at typical binocular range, say fifty yards or beyond. No squinting! Now open or close the two halves of the binocular to find the setting that is most comfortable. It may take some trial and error, but if you keep your eyes properly relaxed, you will know it when you get it. Again, this may not be the widest setting that gives you a perfect circle, but do your eyes a favor and set your binoculars with them in mind, not field of view.

Maybe it’s my age showing, but when it comes to astronomy binoculars, I more and more tend to mount the binoculars on a tripod for the sake of steadiness, even my very steady 7x and 10x astronomy binoculars. I still prefer to handhold my astronomy binoculars for the sake of portability and freedom of movement, but mounting the binoculars on an appropriate astronomy binocular tripod can make a world of difference in terms of how much detail you can see. This is especially evident when I am using the binoculars for fine detail work like splitting double stars, counting stars in a cluster or identifying craters on the moon.

Yes, I do use binoculars for observing the moon, often right along with my telescopes. The binoculars give me a big picture view of things that I sometimes don't get in the telescope eyepiece. Yes, even at a paltry 7x or 10x in the binoculars, there is plenty to see on the moon, but you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you use a tripod when you do. Try it, tonight, now that the moon is almost full.

Most of us or, at least, many of us have one eye that is stronger/sharper than the other. That’s why all binoculars, with the exception of some cheap focus free binoculars, have an adjustment, called a diopter adjustment, that allows you to compensate for differences in strength between your right eye and your left eye. Most of the time this adjustment feature is via a ring on the right eyepiece or, less often, some arrangement on the central focusing knob.

As far as the actual adjustment goes, most of us make that initial diopter adjustment when we first receive our new binoculars and then leave the setting as is. Once set, no need to mess with it, right?

Actually, there are times when you may want to reset the diopter on your binoculars. When I come down with a cold, for instance, I often find that it has slightly affected my vision, enough so that it is worth resetting the diopter on the binoculars. I also suffer from allergies and if you are a fellow sufferer, you know that allergies can also affect your vision and that some days can be worse than others. As a result, during my fall allergy season, I often fine tune the diopter setting on my binoculars. The way I see it, there’s no point spending a lot of money on expensive birding binoculars or compact binoculars the way I do and not get the most out of them. After all, it only takes a second or two to make the adjustment.

Those of us who feed birds in the backyard have a long tradition of dealing with squirrels raiding our bird feeders. I know some folks that do outright battle with the squirrels and go to almost any length with baffles, traps and so on to keep squirrels out of their feeders. Others, myself included, take a more subtle approach by distracting squirrels away from the bird feeders, even if it means setting up feeding stations specifically for the squirrels. I like this approach because it gives me an opportunity to do both birdwatching and squirrel watching through the birding binoculars. It’s a great compromise and everyone is happy – me, my birding binoculars, the birds and the squirrels. End of story, right? Not quite.

Recently, my husband Bill built a squirrel feeder and placed it on a tree as per my instructions. A day later we were watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders, when several deer walked into the yard. Now these are not quite pet deer, but they know me, personally, and often follow me around the yard when I am putting seed on the ground for my ground feeding birds like Juncos. The deer are as welcome in our yard as the squirrels, though it does mean more work fencing off our gardens. Still, I was a little dismayed to see one of the larger does stand up on her hind legs and help herself to the corn we had just placed in the squirrel feeder. Deer raiding a squirrel feeder? That's a new one for me..

First, I have to make my bird feeders squirrel proof, now I have to make my suqirrel feeders deer proof. Where does it end?

As I gaze out onto our small woodland lake, this morning, I can see that there has been quite a buildup of ice in the shallows, overnight. It won’t be long before the entire lake is covered with ice and, once that happens, we won’t see open water, again, until May. If migrating waterfowl plan to pay our small lake a visit, they better hurry.

It’s not like I won’t have some great birdwatching when ice-up comes. The feeders in our yard are, indeed, very busy all winter long. I can’t even guess how many times day I grab the binoculars for a closer look at all the birds in the yard. Still, the lake does provide some variety for my bird watching and some additional action in the spotting scope and birding binoculars - when there is open water on the lake. Call me greedy, but I want to see more birds out on the lake, this fall.

Of course, the natural world does not consult me as to what I want, so, as always, I just adapt as needed. Ice on the lake brings snow on the lake and that brings Joanie on the lake with her skis. Maybe I can manage a little ice on the lake, after all.

About the pic: ice-up on our lake, last year, late November

Our small north woods lake does not get the buildup of waterfowl you sometimes see on large lakes and reservoirs, though, of course, I wish it did for the sake of my birdwatching. Still, we do get our share of ducks that prefer small lakes, such as Wood Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Teal and so on. This also includes one of my favorite woodland ducks, the Hooded Merganser.

Yesterday, on my daily walk with Patch, our young English Setter, we stopped to admire the view from the dock at the end of the lake access road. Out a fair distance on the lake, I spotted a flock of about seven ducks. They were just a touch too far to see clearly in the Nikon Monarch 3 10x42, but I could see them well enough to just make out the distinctive white hooded crest and brown sides on two of the birds. It was a flock of Hooded Mergansers! I hadn’t seen this species in the birding binoculars since last spring, so that made my day.

Patch, though, was more interested in pointing a gray squirrel, back in the woods. He’s a smart dog, but I don’t think my husband will buy the idea that he is smart enough to use binoculars. Looks like I will have to find another excuse to buy yet another binocular.

The flock of migrating Goldfinches that visited our feeders a couple of days, ago, have disappeared just as suddenly they arrived. Off they go on their migration and, who knows, they may be providing another birder a nice view in the binoculars as I write this. This is truly a great time of year for birdwatching.

More Juncos are arriving in the yard with each passing day and, yesterday, I spotted a lone Rusty Blackbird, of all things, feeding with them under the feeders. The Rusty didn’t stay long and soon flew off, which just demonstrates how important it is to keep the birding binoculars handy and check the yard and feeders, constantly, throughout the day. It’s bird migration time and birds are coming and going all day long.

I also have the spotting scope setup on a tripod and stationed at the living room window so I can keep an eye on the lake. Quiet day, yesterday, though. The Wood Ducks that were present in great numbers, back in mid October are long gone, so I’m waiting for the next strong north wind to blow in some new birds.

Back to work. I have a yard and a lake to check for birds.

One of the many things I love about birdwatching this time of year is its element of surprise. All of a sudden your yard is filled with birds that weren’t there the day before or even an hour before. Yes, it’s bird migration time, so keep the binoculars handy at all times. You may have some new visitors, today.

Yesterday morning, just before breakfast I did my usual sweep of the yard and bird feeders with one of my compact binoculars. Nothing new in the way of birds, just the usual Chickadees, Nuthatches and mix of woodpeckers. I did, however, spot otters out on the lake though my spotting scope, so we had a start on another good day.

Just around lunch, I did another check of the yard, this time with a Nikon Monarch 3 10x42 I have been testing. Low and behold, my feeders were covered by a flock of migrating American Goldfinches, all in their winter plumage.

The American Goldfinch is a regular at our feeders all summer long, but our summer birds disappeared sometime in September and I've not seen any goldfinches since. These goldfinches are not the same birds, but they are welcome to stay as long as they want. I’ll keep the thistle feeders full if they’ll let me watch them in the birding binoculars.