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To add another viewpoint on the binoculars for birding thing, Canon image stabilized binoculars are phenomenal for birding. In my opinion this feature out performs anything else you can do short of using a tripod for your binoculars or a very good scope at double the magnification (on a tripod of course). I recently bought a pair after using a decent pair of Docter 8x30's for 15 years and the difference is amazing. An added bonus is that you can use them for stargazing without a tripod as well.
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Aug 21, 2013 03:17
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[quote="BetterLekNextTime" post=""419782407"] I went out yesterday to try for one of the blue-footed boobies that have been seen up and down the California coast, but struck out. Lots of birders out there. Funniest thing was a couple of non-birder women were there who were talking to a fairly shy college-aged male birder. One of the women was pretty well endowed and spilling out of her shirt, and the guy was too embarrassed to say what bird everyone was looking for. [/quote] Booby!  This was at Marina Del Rey breakwater Wednesday morning. I saw four, very easy to distinguish from the various gulls, cormorants, and pelicans also out there. I haven't been this excited about seeing a bird in a very long time. I also just got this binocular harness and am really happy with it. For some reason I thought a decent harness would be unreasonably expensive, but this was like $25 on amazon and seems quite nice.
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Sep 29, 2013 02:18
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Yellow-Billed Magpie is my nemesis bird. Heh, I considered them common where I went to school (SLO). Creepers otoh just know to avoid me.
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Oct 16, 2013 01:10
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Panic Restaurant posted:Bumping this thread cause I'd like some help identifying this guy here (it was very dark, so the pics are auto-enhanced): Probably a Sharpie, but they can be pretty tough in the field to differentiate from a Cooper's. If you have some pictures of the banding at the tip of the tail that may help.
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Jul 28, 2014 06:16
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Rakins posted:I might have missed it but what would be a good pair of binoculars in the 200-300 range to get started? Nikon Monarch 5 or 7 in 8x42. REI has them to try and with the yearly member coupon price is almost as good as online usually.
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Mar 2, 2015 19:57
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Arriviste posted:Anyone hear any other interesting mimicking you've encountered in your birding? This question is not limited to mockingbirds (although they pretty much rule--and know it.) I just realized I heard a Mockingbird in Pasadena doing the normal horn of the Metro train, it's a quiet buzzing, not a normal full on train horn.
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May 20, 2015 15:31
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Today I saw the Peregrine Falcon at Morro Rock 
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Jan 1, 2016 07:06
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H110Hawk posted:For example with binoculars, a friend (who is likely to see this post) let me borrow these: https://smile.amazon.com/Canon-10x42-Stabilization-Waterproof-Binoculars/dp/B0007W4IW2 . Were they better than the binoculars I wound up buying? No question, way better. Were they something I felt I was missing in my life? No. The $1,000 price premium to get image stabilization just wasn't there for me on something I use once a month at most. (Or hours/day if on vacation.) That's me. These binoculars are amazing. I bought them as a gift to myself after using a decent pair of east german binoculars for 15 years. You don't have to spend nearly that much either, https://www.amazon.com/Canon-10x30-Ultra-Compact-Binoculars-Black/dp/B00004THDC will get you 99% of the benefits, cost a third as much, and weight half as much (I kinda wish I got these instead). Imaged stabilized binoculars are the best thing you can get for bird watching, any difference in optics quality from spending more is completely overwhelmed by the human inability to hold something steady. IS binoculars also work handheld for astronomy. Aquila fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Jun 16, 2018 |
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Jun 16, 2018 00:39
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Claeaus posted:Thanks a lot everyone! Currently she's using some 8x $20 binoculars from the local hardware store so anything would be an improvement really. There are so many things that go into binoculars that picking the right factors can make a bunch of difference. Most of it's been covered, but things beyond magnification and optical quality can make a huge difference in how much someone likes and uses binoculars. I've found many people care more about weight, size, strap/harness design (this can usually be changed later), appearance, and build quality. There are hard lower limits given magnification and objective size, this is why most 8x42 roof prism binoculars appear similar at this point. Features such as close focus (my grandma uses binoculars to look at plants so she doesn't have to bend over), water resistant/proof (important for some people), brand (some people want Leica/Zeiss/Swaro) usually come in after these. Things like eye relief (important for people who wear glasses), field of view, handling/controls, lens caps, usually come last. There are difficult choices when it comes to size and weight, the image projected on your eye is a factor of the magification and objective size, and this is directly related on how easy they are to use. A compact 8x32 will be shakier then an 8x42 then an 8x50, but each step goes up in size and weight. If you read the Audubon reviews you'll see 8x42 is defacto at this point, but they may be larger/heavier than some people want to carry. Even at a given size there can be a 40% variance in weight, some 8x42 weigh just 24oz, some 32oz+.
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Nov 16, 2020 16:39
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:16 |
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Tears In A Vial posted:We've gone back to the tape and you guys are right. Thanks for the ID! I'll update my list. Oh dear, I was afraid to say anything, but every Harrier I've seen in the US and Britain has had a heavy and distinctive white band on the base of it's tail. Given the extreme dimorphism between the sexes of those birbs it's absolutely the quickest give away for either. E: you should definitely go seek out a harrier if you haven't seen one before, they're like what if a hawk decided it wanted to be an owl.
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Feb 7, 2021 07:41
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