[Tweeters] Binos for Birders

[Mark Borden]

About 50 years of avid bird observation has led me to agree with ZZ Top. “They come in two classes…expensive shades and image stabilized glasses.” 

I often takes several falconers with me to observe falcon behavior at the Eyrie. Three years ago I brought my (~500.00) Canon 10 power image stabilized Binos.  I dropped them while rappelling and only one side worked. Even so the Falconer’s that had their own Swarovski and Zeiss with them all ended up closing one eye, and using my image stabilized cannons to get the best views of the Falcons.

Falconer’s are without a doubt the most avid of birders. Binoculars for a falconer are a “high stakes item.” Keeping an eye on a falcon during a flight can mean the difference between recovery and loss.

The Cannon IS are hands-down superior aboard a boat. I personally prefer them to my 10 power Swarovski’s any day. If it is a windy day on land, they are also clearly superior.

Their only downside is that they could be more waterproof.

Mark Borden
Coupeville WA.

Sent from my iPhone


> On Dec 1, 2022, at 12:09 PM, tweeters-request at mailman11.u.washington.edu wrote:

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> Today's Topics:

> 

>   1. THE GUARDIAN: CT scans of toothed bird fossil leads to

>      jaw-dropping discovery (Dan Reiff)

>   2. Best Binoculars? (jimbetz at jimbetz.com)

>   3. THE INDEPENDENT: India shows off drone-busting birds in    joint

>      drills with US near Chinese border (Dan Reiff)

>   4. Storm Wigeon (Bill Hubbard)

>   5. REMINDER - WOS Monthly Mtg, Dec. 5, 7:30 pm Kim Adelson to

>      present "The Origins of Modern Bird Orders" (meetings at wos.org)

> 

> 

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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> Message: 1

> Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2022 16:29:18 -0800

> From: Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com>

> To: Tweeters <tweeters at uw.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] THE GUARDIAN: CT scans of toothed bird fossil

>    leads to    jaw-dropping discovery

> Message-ID: <24B66075-4E68-41CA-B6FA-5F2CBFFA5DB8 at gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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> Message: 2

> Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2022 19:00:32 -0800

> From: jimbetz at jimbetz.com

> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: [Tweeters] Best Binoculars?

> Message-ID:

>    <20221130190032.Horde.8kyaN4cTXM1Ml41pUlPcIlA at webmail.jimbetz.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes

> 

> Hi all,

> 

>   I -think- I know the answer to this question - but an unasked

> question is little more than a guess ... and at best an educated

> guess.

> 

>   We have 3 different binoculars.  All Nikon 8x50, 10x50, and 12x50.

> Other than the magnification I can't tell the difference.  Usually I

> grab/prefer the 12x50.  My wife uses the 10x50.  We are both in our

> late 70's.

>   We also have a spotting scope - that stays home.

>   We are more than casual birders - but not "serious birders" (we

> know several people who have been doing this much longer than we

> have and are much better at finding and IDing birds.

>   We are NOT life listers - we pay more attention to bird behavior

> than to putting another new to us bird on our checklist.

>   We do take birding vacations - such as our recent trip to Veracruz

> with Raptours.  We are currently in Puerto Vallarta and will book at

> least one guided day trip while we are here.  We are considering

> going to Gibraltar for the move north in the Spring.

>   We are more interested in the larger birds than smaller.

> 

>   Conventional wisdom is that "the more you spend the better the

> binoculars" ... which leads one to the Swarovski or Zeiss - without

> much real difference between the two?

> 

>   It's not about the money.  We can afford any set we choose.  But it

> -IS- about whether we can tell the difference.

> 

>   ===> So is there an 'upgrade' that will make a difference?

> 

>                                             - Jim in Skagit County

> 

> 

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 3

> Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2022 02:28:15 -0800

> From: Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com>

> To: Tweeters <tweeters at uw.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] THE INDEPENDENT: India shows off drone-busting

>    birds in    joint drills with US near Chinese border

> Message-ID: <AF56267D-AA24-46E9-91A9-556F09921372 at gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> 

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> Message: 4

> Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2022 15:55:18 +0000

> From: Bill Hubbard <Hubbard at live.com>

> To: "tweeters at u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Storm Wigeon

> Message-ID:

>    <MWHPR06MB33268D14935FD06D71ACEB77C9149 at MWHPR06MB3326.namprd06.prod.outlook.com>

>    

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> 

> There is a Storm Wigeon hanging out at Bellefield Office Park on the left side of the island.  Easy to photograph if approached slowly.  See this link to eBird photo, Media Search - Macaulay Library and eBird<https://media.ebird.org/catalog?regionCode=L1356667&sort=rating_rank_desc&daysSinceUp=30>.

> Bill Hubbard

> 

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> Message: 5

> Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2022 10:08:15 -0600

> From: <meetings at wos.org>

> To: Tweeters <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] REMINDER - WOS Monthly Mtg, Dec. 5, 7:30 pm Kim

>    Adelson to present "The Origins of Modern Bird Orders"

> Message-ID: <20221201160815.35572.qmail at s401.sureserver.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

> 

> The Washington Ornithological Society is delighted to invite you to a stimulating presentation by Kim Adelson, entitled ?The Origins of Modern Bird Orders.?

> 

> True birds have existed for roughly 150 million years, since the middle of the Age of Dinosaurs. These birds, however, were very different from modern birds and most were not closely related to the birds that populate the world today. The question that this talk tries to answer is this: when did familiar, recognizably modern birds appear? Several modern bird orders co-existed with dinosaurs; some did not evolve until 25 or more million years after they perished (or about 40 million years ago). So, the question we will pose is not ?which came first, the chicken or the egg?? but ?which came first, the chicken or the songbird? or ?the penguin or the raptor??

> 

> Kim has had a passionate interest in paleontology since childhood and holds a Master?s Degree in Evolutionary Biology.??She has given two previous presentations to WOS ? ?The Dinosaurs Amongst Us? and ?The Birds Who Lived??with (Other) Dinosaurs", available at WOS' YouTube Channel:??https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC657f_RhriAUIwS_P1m5_nQ.

> 

> The meeting will be conducted via Zoom, not in-person.??Please go to http://wos.org/about-wos/monthly-meetings/ for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link.??Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm.

> 

> This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend.??

> 

> If you are not yet a member, I hope you will consider becoming one at http://wos.org/about-wos/membership/,

> 

> Please join us!

> 

> Vicki King

> WOS Program Coordinator 

> 

> 

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> End of Tweeters Digest, Vol 220, Issue 1

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