I stand in my kitchen, coffee cup in my hand. Like many mornings, I beat my alarm. No, I didn’t use a hammer. I mean that I’m awake before it goes off. I’m already dressed, boots and birding vest on. The vest pockets are already filled with my field guides, checklist, notebook and pen, compass and map. My binoculars and spotting scope already carefully stowed in the car. Coffee’s good this morning. I need to get my hat and coat. I checked the weather forecast last night (the internet is my friend): cool crisp morning will give way to sunshine and a bit of wind. I’ll grab my sunglasses just in case.

As light seeps into my backyard, the feeders and bird bath already draw visitors. There are robins on the grass; goldfinches and house finches at the feeder. A wren flits in the Rose-a-Sharon near the bath. Stealing into the yard from the ravine’s edge is a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos.

Camera…I have to get my camera. Maybe, there will be a chance at a good shot. I grab my cell phone, which I’ll carry only in case “someone wants or needs me”.

A bottle of water and an apple for a snack; I’ve got to go. It’s a good day to go birding.

Young birds are harder to identify as their plumage may not have reached maturity. They may not match up to the bird you are looking at in your standard birder’s guide.
Birds may also be molting at this time of year.
Another issue may be the changing color of the leaves and the grey skies of fall (depending on your location and the exact time you are bird watching of course). Hawks and other autumn-toned birds can be harder to spot.

Best binoculars

To spy birds best, you will ideally use a well-kept pair of 8x-12x binoculars to see birds from far away across wetlands and ponds, for example. You will want to carry a tripod with you, so you can set up for long views (especially with lenses of 50mm or wider). A retractable tripod will make it easy for you to quickly move to get a better view.
Backyard Bird Watching with Your Binoculars

There are a number of things you can do to improve your bird watching experience for autumn.

In preparation for the winter, you can build a winter roosting box. This will increase your experience with birds. These boxes have a door underneath or near the bottom and are more spacious than other bird houses. This allows birds to get inside and out of the cold winter wind. On sunny winter days, you will have more birds to keep you company, especially if you can keep them out of the cold other days.
You will increase the variety of birds you see if you increase the variety of bird houses you own.
Provide birds with water. If you are in the northern states or Canada, unfrozen water will be harder for them to find. If you can supply them with a consistent source of water, they will stay around.
Suet: get to it! You can make your own or you can stock up. Suet is the easiest way to feed birds and it is very valuable to them in the cold winter months. Suet is really only fat; you can grab a pack of lard from the corner store.
Leave some of the dead flowers in your garden. These are full of seeds. You won’t need to keep all of them for next year’s planting; leave them, and you just may be rewarded with a rare sighting.
Keep your binoculars clean and keep your field guide at hand preferably near your window onto your backyard. During the migration season you may see birds that are completely unfamiliar to you. Avid, vigilant birdwatchers find at least one or two surprises every season.

Bear in mind that seeds and berries are plentiful in autumn, so birds may not be attracted to your bird feeder. If you need to get out to where the birds are, water is the place to go. Know the local hotspots where rarely seen birds tend to congregate.

Use Google or other mapping resources to find all the secluded ponds in your area. This is where the wild and rare birds will be found, the ones that are not used to civilization. Check out all the coves and bays of any coastline near you. The key, as always is to be patient and to have your binoculars ready.
Winter Birding

Once winter comes and the leaves have all fallen from deciduous trees, you will be able to tell who has been nesting near you. Identifying nests is an underrated part of bird watching. This is a fascinating way to increase your knowledge the birds in your area.

Most of us begin birding with a field guide and a pair of binoculars.  Yet, we eventually realize that certain situations demand our acquisition of a spotting scope.  It may be that we find ourselves at the wetlands and can not quite tell if we are looking at a White Faced or Glossy Ibis.  Or, we spot a raptor across the canyon and can not say if it is a Red Tail or some other hawk.  Or, maybe, we just would like a better look at the Black Throated Green Warbler high up in the oaks.

Your advancement in birding does not mean you are becoming an elitist.  Your expertise is growing and should be cause for celebration.  Owning a spotting scope doesn’t make you an elitist either.  In fact, many manufacturers have improved their processes to accomplish advances in construction and image quality while making their product more affordable.   The spotting scope is now considered as essential as the binoculars.

There are many elements in the choice of a scope.  Many are personal preferences.  One such is whether to buy a scope that is straight through (ST) or angular (AN) sighted.  It is probably easier to find and focus on some distant bird using the ST configuration.  With practice, one can adjust to an AN scope and become just as proficient.  However, if you find that you are often in a group and sharing a scope the AN may be the better choice.  You can set the height to the shortest person in the group and everyone can easily view whatever bird is the subject of inquiry.

Light gathering ability is a major consideration in a scope.  Generally, the larger the objective lens the greater the ability to gather light.  An 80 mm objective gathers more light than a 60 mm lens.   However, with a larger lens also comes added weight and cost.  For most of us, and in most circumstances, objective lenses in the 60 to 65 mm range are quite adequate.

The eyepiece, or ocular, can be fixed or variable.  A 20x ocular is good for fixed eyepieces, but variable magnification are either 15x-45x or 20x-60x.  The lower magnification on the variable ocular is used to locate and focus the bird while the greater magnifications can be zoomed in to gain detail for a sure identification.

Eventually, one has to make a decision as to what amount to spend.  For those whose budget is limited the Cornell Laboratory Scope Quest 2008 becomes an excellent source of information and advice. Ken Rosenberg organized this event and compiled data on a number of scopes.  In this, the Stokes Sandpiper Scope did quite well.  Ken writes, “An even nicer surprise was the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper, which at $359 or less could be the best buy of any model we tested.  This small, lightweight scope is fully waterproof, works well with eyeglasses, and provides an image nearly as nice up to 45x as the more expensive [models].”  

Considering image quality, ease of transport, magnifications, objective lens size and, of course, cost, it all comes down to what fits your personal needs and preferences.  Once you have made your choice, enjoy it to the fullest.

WindowAlert brings you a wide range of attractive birding binoculars with different configurations that help you to discover the true beauty of birds, butterflies, and flowers at a distance. It also offers easy-to-use, comfortable, durable, and close focus binoculars with which you can see small insects creeping near you. The Audubon 10 x 42 Equinox HP is a high-quality, lightweight binocular from WindowAlert. This Audubon compact binocular comes with impressive optics and premium phase coatings on roof prism for high resolution and contrast. The glare reduction system offers a clear view even under bright light conditions. Waterproof feature of this binocular protects the optics from bad weather condition like rain, sleet, and snow. Fogproofing with nitrogen purging prevents interior lenses from fogging up. It has soft-tapered eyecups that cushion the eye and these multi-position eyecups provide comfort for eyeglass and sunglass wearer. The rubber armored body offers solid grip in the heaviest rain shower. These bird-watching binoculars are very useful instruments that bring the real beauty close to your eyes and make fantastic gifts for your loved ones.

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Spotting scopes are used when more magnification is needed or wanted than binoculars provide. Spotting scopes are used widely for birding, viewing wildlife and landscapes and other objects at a great distance. Much of the terminology and technical specifications specific to spotting scopes are similar to binoculars. For example, a 20-60×82 spotting scope has a zoom magnification range of 20-60x (20 to 60 times larger than the size of an image as would be seen by the naked eye) with a front lens diameter of 82mm.

The significant increased magnification of spotting scopes can take you well beyond the capabilities of conventional binoculars. That said, two factors, the atmosphere and the optical system of the spotting scope, should be kept in mind. Heavy air, dust, humidity, glare and wind and air currents during the day can all reduce image quality and the greater the magnification, the more drastic the reduction in image quality will be. Few locations allow you to use more than 60-80x during the day, so most spotting scopes stop at 60x. The optical system of a spotting scope will impact magnification also.  As magnification is increased, some decrease in image quality will result, no matter the model. In this key area, as the old saying goes…you get what you pay for.  So yes, if you want a spotting scope that is as clear and sharp at 60x magnification as it is at 20x, then expect to pay more. Keep in mind though that most spotting scopes are used at lower magnifications, usually around 30x-40x. This is more than enough for most applications and all but the least expensive and cheapest model will produce reasonable images in this magnification range.

Objective Diameter

Assuming that you are comparing two models of similar quality, the larger the objective lens, the more detail you can see and the better image quality your scope will deliver, especially at higher magnifications. However, a large lens of mediocre quality, no matter how large, will never equal the performance of a smaller, quality lens. If you aren’t sure, opt for quality, not size.

Close Focus

Although not an absolute necessity, a spotting scope with a close focus of 20 ft or less can be useful, especially if you plan to use a spotting scope with a camera.

Eye Relief

As with binoculars, this is the distance your eye can be from the eyepiece and still see the entire field of view. As a general rule, you will need at least 14mm of eye relief to see the entire field of view with eyeglasses and people with thick glass lenses in their eyeglasses will probably need more.

Waterproofing

While not a necessity, a waterproof scope is terrific to have. The seals in a waterproof model also prevent the infiltration of dust and dirt and therefore add to the lifespan of the spotting scope.

Tripods

Due to its high magnification, handholding a spotting scope and expecting to maintain a clear, non-blurry image is virtually impossible. A spotting scope requires that it be supported to keep it steady. You may be able to sneak by at lower magnifications with a monopod or shoulder stock, but above 40x, you must use a tripod. And the larger and heavier the scope, the larger and heavier the tripod should be. As all spotting scopes are threaded in the same fashion as a camera and therefore should fit on any standard camera or video tripod, unless you prefer, you will not need to purchase a special tripod for your spotting scope.

Best Spotting Scopes for Birding

Most agree that the best magnification range for birding with a spotting scope is 20-40x. Much higher than 40x and the field of view is too narrow to be practical, with the added drawback of a dimmer image. Keep in mind that problems such as heat waves will increase at higher magnifications. If you do a lot of dawn or twilight bird observation, or if your area is often overcast and dim, a wider objective lens will give you a better image.  So you will  want to choose a lens of 77-82mm. However, a larger objective lens also translates to increased size and weight. Birders who are out mostly during the day and don’t relish the thought of carrying a heavier instrument will want to consider an objective lens size of 60-65mm.

Support Staff – the Outdoor Nature Resource.com

Optics from theOutdoor Nature Resource.com

What sort of optical demands must we consider? Well for one thing the birder need to see details like the patterns and color of feathers, often in dim light such as under a tree canopy or in twilight. They need good magnification so that they can easily identify birds at a distance and sometimes they will want to observe birds at very short distances so they want their binoculars to work for close focus observing too, maybe even down to just a few meters.

They need true color viewing so they can see everything as it really is colored and not with any tint or false color. They also need a reasonable field of view so they can observe birds in flight easily and be able to pick birds out from the surrounding trees.

They want the binoculars to be light enough to carry and hang on a neck-strap. Their binoculars should be light enough to hold comfortably for viewing and easy enough on the eyes to be able to use for long periods. Birders usually want their binoculars to be compact enough to pack in a rucksack. For observing from hides they often want to use their binoculars on a tripod or mono-pod so a fitting for these adapters is advisable. If their bird watching is in the wilderness then rugged construction and some element of waterproofing and fog-proofing is also advisable.

When looking at binocular specifications we usually pay most attention to the two numbers that define the basic specifications. The first number gives us the magnification factor, so an 8x binocular magnifies an image (brings it closer) by 8 times. The higher the magnification the more difficult it becomes to use the binoculars effectively due to the natural hand-shake which makes it difficult to keep the bird in view and also the smaller the field of view will be. For birding use, an 8x binocular is the most commonly used though in some circumstances enthusiasts will use higher magnification.

The second number in the specs tells us the diameter of the objective lens. This is important for two reasons, firstly the larger the diameter the more light is captured by the binocular so the clearer and brighter the resulting image. Secondly, the larger diameter also gives a larger field of view. In the birding world, the most popular objectives are 40mm and 42mm. Getting much higher than this makes the binocular a little too heavy and large.

Other important considerations are the quality of the lenses and prisms and the optical coatings used on those elements. These coatings reduce loss of light through reflection from the binocular and its internal components and they help to preserve good clarity and true color throughput. As a rule of thumb look for Fully-Multi-Coated (FMC) coatings for bird watching use. The specification for eye relief refers to the distance between the eyepiece and the eye. Those who wear glasses will need a longer eye relief to allow for the extra distance caused by the glasses being between the binocular and their eye.

Roof and Porro Prism designs refer to the two body styles of binoculars. This difference comes about through the placement of the internal prisms within the binocular body. Roof prism types are the more compact and modern looking. Their objective lenses are more or less in line with the eyepieces, while porro prism types are the traditional style with the lenses stepped out from the line of the eyepieces. More and more birding enthusiasts are now opting for the roof prism type particularly as their quality has caught up with the porro types in recent years.

Fulfilling your bird watching and wild bird identification efforts will be realized by understanding basic binoculars’ terminology.

Binoculars Terminology

Power/Magnification and Objective Lens Diameter (example 8×42)

The first number, the Power or Magnification measurement, is the degree that the object being viewed is enlarged. In this example, binoculars with an 8 power magnification will magnify the object 8 times larger than would normally be seen with your eyes. The second number, the Objective Lens Diameter, is measured in millimeters (mm). The objective lenses are the front lenses of the binoculars. The diameter of the lens determines the light gathering ability. A larger lens produces greater light gathering ability and therefore improved detail and image clarity. The power level affects the brightness of an image. A lower power will produce a brighter image.

Field of View

The size of the area visible while looking through a pair of binoculars is referred to as the Field of View. Generally a greater magnification or power will produce a smaller field of view. The angular field of view, expressed in degrees, is indicated on the outside of the binoculars. The linear field of view refers to the area that can be viewed at 1,000 yards, and is expressed in feet. A larger field of view translates to a larger area seen through the binoculars. Depending on your bird watching needs, a significantly larger linear field of view may not be important. Please remember, in most cases, the larger the field of view, the poorer the image clarity becomes, especially around the edges. Bear this in mind when making your choice. Bigger does not always mean better.

Close Focus

Close focus refers to the distance between you and the nearest object on which you can focus while still maintaining a good image and sharp focus. This term is normally applied only to center focus models which may need to focus both near and farther distances. Close Focus distance is a critical issue with bird watchers and observers of close subjects that tend to move around at varying distances quickly.

Exit Pupil

The diameter that of the beam of light, measured in millimeters (mm), leaves the eyepiece of a pair of binoculars is the Exit Pupil. The larger the exit pupil, the brighter the image obtained will be. Having a large exit pupil is advantageous under low light conditions and at night such as astronomical, marine or low light conditions.

Relative Brightness

Gathering and transmitting enough of the available light to provide a sufficiently bright and sharp image define the brightness of a pair of binoculars. Brightness is certainly one factor to consider when determining the best pair of binoculars for you, but is not usually the most important. After all, most of your bird watching likely will be during well lit conditions when birds are active.

Eye Relief

Eye Relief is the distance, measured in millimeters (mm), that binoculars can be held from the eye and the full field of view can still be observed comfortably. Those who wear eyeglass in particular benefit from longer eye relief. Normally a minimum rating of 15mm will be needed for those wearing eyeglasses.

Best Binoculars for Birding

While the ultimate choice is one of personal preference, generally full size binoculars ranging anywhere from 7×30 to 8.5×50 are preferred and considered the most popular range in magnification and objective lens size for bird watching. For instance, binoculars with an 8×42 configuration feature a 42mm objective lens size which provides ample light gathering capabilities in even lower light conditions and an 8x magnification allows you to steady the binoculars much more readily than with significantly higher powers, making the task of bird identification easier. Some birders with steady hands may prefer 10 power binoculars or greater.

Please remember that as you increase the power of your binoculars, less light will be gathered and therefore the viewing field will be reduced as well. It is also very difficult to keep an image steady at very high magnifications using standard hand held binoculars. A tripod is often necessary to steady an image at higher magnifications. A good alternative though for those seeking the option of high power magnification is a pair of binoculars with a zoom feature. This gives you the option of higher magnifications without the limitations of fixed, high power binoculars that can be a bit unwieldy.

Support Staff – the Outdoor Nature Resource.com

Optics from theOutdoor Nature Resource.com