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

Bird size is one way we often use to identify birds, since bird size is often the most obvious difference between closely related species. Size is never the only difference, true, but, out in the field, size may sometimes be a good clue when more information is needed for bird identification. However, using size to identify birds is fraught with danger and is a method that all good birders use with a healthy dose of caution. Size is a feature best saved for last or when all else fails.

The problem is that we humans are not that good at estimating absolute size of things in our environment when they are at a distance. We do fine with objects within arm’s reach, but that’s about it. Objects out at a distance in our environment are subject to far too many variables of light, shadow, perspective and so on to make size estimates reliable. This has been supported by plenty of research. So when are we safe using size as a way to identify birds when we are out to do some birdwatching?

Size is reliable only when it is relative to objects of already known size. If that shorebird in question is standing next to a Killdeer, you can check the size of the Killdeer in your bird guide and get a good idea of the size of that unknown shorebird. However, even this is subject to caution, since the two shorebirds must both be at the same distance. If not, your estimate is not reliable; move on to another feature you can use for identification. Be especially careful of this foreshortening issue when using birding binoculars or birding spotting scopes. Magnification in our binoculars and spotting scopes robs the observer of depth perception; magnification can make objects appear to be at the same distance when, in fact, they are not and it only takes small differences in distance to make your estimate unreliable.

The Hairy Woodpecker and the Downy Woodpecker are very similar in terms of appearance, but actually quite different in terms of size. In the pic, both are at the same distance and the difference is obvious. However, out in the field, even this much difference in size is not always obvious, especially when you only catch a fleeting glance at the bird as it moves through the branches. Hey, that's the fun of birdwatching, though. It's not always so easy.

Birding binoculars are, of course, the basic tool used by all birders, but, if you know your birds, there are plenty of opportunities to identify birds that do not require binoculars. In fact, you can identify a great number of birds from your vehicle as you drive cross country, as I did over the weekend, on a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota and never uncase your binoculars.

New to my 2010 birdwatching list, is the Wilson’s Phalarope. Spotted a whole flock of these shorebirds, feeding in a marsh, in suburban St. Paul as we were stopped at a light. No birding binocular needed to spot Phalaropes when they are feeding – they swim in circles, but you can also identify Phalaropes from their distinctive silhouette. However, in the off chance that you might spot a much rarer Red-necked Phalarope swimming with a group of Wilson's, you should take a look with a binocular when you have a chance. The light changed before I could get my binoculars uncased in this instance.

Next addition to my 2010 birding list was the Canvasback. This is one of my favorite ducks and it, too, has a very distinctive silhouette that allows you to identify it without binoculars from quite some distance, but the Canvasback is really too pretty a bird not to view with binoculars. In a spotting scope, I’ve spotted these in mixed flocks of ducks at tremendous distances.

Saw quite a few Bald Eagles, too, on the way to St. Paul. Most folks probably just think hawk when they see eagles, but the shape and proportion of wings and body size make any eagle easy to distinguish from a hawk, also no binocular needed.

Even easier to spot and distinguish from a hawk are Turkey Vultures. The distinctive V shape they create by the way they hold their wings can be seen from incredible distances without the aid of a binocular.

All in all, there are a good many birds that you can identify long before you raise your binoculars to your face.

Bill retires in a year and, along with doing a lot of camping, we have been thinking of selling our Milwaukee home and heading either up north our out west where the skiing, biking, fishing, hiking, camping, wildlife photography, birding, canoeing, astronomy and, well, everything we like is better. It will give us a better opportunity to use our digital cameras, telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes and so on, of course, but it will also give us a chance to just plain get the smell and sounds of the city out of our blood and breathe some fresh air. Nothing against Milwaukee – it’s been a great place for both of us and our home is about as far from the hustle and bustle of the city as a home can get and still be in the city – but, there are signs that it may not suit us, anymore.

So off we go, cruising the on line real estate ads for homes out west or up north. I know that most folks think of heading south when they retire to avoid the winter, but we are not most folks. We are outdoors folks and winter, to us, means time to ski, snowshoe, ice fish and all those other wonderful things you do in the winter where we live. My mother headed right back up to the far north when she retired from her career in Nebraska and I am my mother’s child. Forty below and the calls of timber wolves sounds great to me.

Bill and I are going to visit his daughter in St.Paul, over the Easter weekend and I have been busy packing. Packing for a trip is one of those chores I detest, but I have learned, the hard way, what happens when you get sloppy. The downside to all my planning is that I have a tendency bring something along, just in case and that tendency can quickly turn a weekend trip into an expedition. Not good.

Of course, the digital cameras are packed and ready to go and I am also taking one of my favorite film cameras. This photographic safari will be family photography, of course, but I also hope to get some landscape photography done, along the way, so I will be taking a selection of short and standard camera lenses in the camera bags. I am leaving the big telephoto lenses behind, so no need for the tripods. Image stabilization in digital cameras does have its advantages.

Not sure, though, if we will have a chance to do any birding or astronomy, so I will be leaving the birding binoculars and astronomical binoculars, behind. However, I will, pack my compact binoculars in my purse, just in case I need to do some birding. That’s the beauty of compact binoculars – when in doubt, just put a compact binocular in your purse and go. Try that with an astronomy binocular.

Having been in the binocular sales for more than twenty years, I have seen many binoculars come and go. For the most part, these binoculars were similar to one another, just a matter of quality and performance, of course, price. After all the binocular market has always been very competitive, so a truly different and great binocular does not come around that often. There have been a few, though.

One of the binocular series that I do miss are the old Zeiss Classic series, the venerable Zeiss 10x40 Classic, the less popular Zeiss 8x30 Classic, Zeiss 8x56 Classic and, my favorite, the Zeiss 7x42 Classic. There was nothing revolutionary about those old Zeiss binoculars; in fact, the external focusing on the 7x42 and 8x56 were a bit retro. Still, those old Zeiss Classics were the benchmark of what a premium binocular should be. They weren’t labeled Classics till just a few years before they disappeared; they were just Zeiss binoculars back when that was the only line of binoculars Zeiss produced. I loved the 7x42 Classic for its balance and super pleasing wide field of view with great optics. As with that 8x56 Classic binocular, you could spot the profile of the Zeiss Classic 7x42 profile from a great distance; the silhouette was distinctive. That was one binocular I wish I had bought when I had the chance.

Early in the 90s, the only binoculars in production to earn the title of premium or best binoculars, in terms of performance and quality, were European binoculars. Then along came that first Bausch&Lomb Elite (which survives as the quite different Bushnell Elite). It was slender, sexy with optics that gave the best European binoculars a challenge. The first Bausch&Lomb Elite binocular was revolutionary in that it announced to the world that a binocular, made in Japan, could compete with the best European brands. That’s another one I wish I had bought.

I was at a birding festival, back in the late 90s and stopped by the Swarovski table to see what had drawn such a crowd. When it was my turn, Clay, the Swarovski rep, handed me an odd looking binocular; it had two barrels that were attached only at the front of the barrels and the back of the barrels; the center was completely open. When I picked up that first Swarovski EL binocular, though, I was floored with how sweet it felt in my hands and, even better, the optics were breathtaking. That first Swarovski EL was truly revolutionary for its now much coped open body design. (That was one that didn’t get away.)

Now and then, I am asked about the value of old binoculars, whether the binoculars are worth fixing, if it would better to get a new model of binocular and so on. For the record, I like old binoculars; in some cases the binoculars are unique, sometimes the binoculars just bring back memories of the old days; sometimes I’m just curious as to when the binocular was made and so on. In a very few cases and, only in a few cases, the binocular in question is actually collectible in terms of its make, model and age. These collectible binoculars I refer to a specialist that can assess value and provide estimates as to restoration. That is not my area of expertise.

So, assuming you just have an old binocular, but not a collectible old binocular, should you fix your binocular if it is broken or malfunctioning or should you just replace it by buying a binocular, new in the box? In most cases, the answer is no. With the exception of Zeiss binoculars, Leica binoculars, Swarovski binoculars and other premium Europen binoculars or vintage Bausch&Lomb binoculars, old binoculars you fish out of the closet are likely to be of average quality or below average quality and those binoculars are seldom cost effective to repair. In many cases, what you spend on repair will buy a better new and current binocular. Then, too, parts availability on most old binoculars is very limited.

One reason for this includes advances that have been made in optics over the last twenty years. Thanks to computerization, even a cheap binocular, today, is ground and polished to better tolerances than many expensive binoculars made thirty years, ago. Then, too, sophisticated lens coatings and other improvements in optical technology that used to be reserved for only the most expensive binoculars in the old days are now found on today’s inexpensive binoculars. In other words, an average binocular today has noticeably better optics than the average binocular made twenty or thirty years, ago.

The other reason is advances in body materials. That has changed, significantly, as well. Bottom line is that current binoculars are, on the average, lighter and also easier to handle than the average binocular from twenty years, ago or even fifteen years, ago. Improvements have also been made in seals, eyecups and other user features. Today’s average binocular, then, is also more durable and user friendly.

All in all, if mom or dad’s old binocular doesn’t work, anymore, it is probably not worth fixing, unless, of course, it has sentimental value.

About the pic: Found this old-timer in the basement. Double images plus too much slop in the focuser means the end of the road for this binocular.

Not much to report on bird activity in my area, this last week; my birding binoculars are not exactly collecting dust, but they are not exactly getting overheated, either. Temperatures have been on the cool side (not really unusual for March, this far north), barely nudging 40. However, with temperatures expected to be in the 70s, in the next few days and that is unusual, so I suspect this is the calm before the storm as far as my birding and birdwatching goes. I can feel it in my bones that nature is about to explode with life in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to hear the Spring Peepers (frogs) telling us all that spring has arrived.

Regardless of the weather, though, I have been hitting the bike trail, nearly every day, though it is not always easy trying to squeeze that precious time in between my music students and my bands. My biking trips are a combination of a hard workout to get in shape for some long-distance biking I want to do, later this summer and my daily birding trip. I’ve worked it out to where I know the sections of the trail that are best for birding and sections of the trail that have the hills I need for my conditioning. Aerobic biking and bird watching are an odd combination of activities, I know, but it works for me; I return home refreshed in both mind and body. At my age, I take that as a blessing.

About the pic. I always carry at least one of my digital cameras, just in case I see something interesting. Spotted these two Mallards feeding in the water as I biked over a bridge and had to stop. I thought they way they posed said a lot. Mallards have a different point of view.

Like so many Americans, I have a great many reservations about buying products made in China, but, also like so many Americans, I sometimes feel I have no choice given my typically limited budget. When it comes to binoculars, though, I have been fortunate enough to afford binoculars made in Japan or Europe, where labor practices and concern for the environment are on a higher plane than what you typically find in China. That is very important to me and I wish I could afford to be as selective in all products I buy, but I do what I can to support fair labor practices and the environment. However, I also know that many folks shopping for binoculars do not have the budget to spend $400 when trying to choose a binocular and that is typically what you must spend to avoid a binocular made in China. I feel the pain of someone on a limited budget that wants to buy a binocular not made in China, but that is globalization and binoculars are just a very tiny tip of that complicated and enormous iceberg.

All this does not mean, however, that all binoculars made in China are inferior products. Quality and performance are not reasons automatically reject a binocular made in China. There are many fine binoculars made in China, just as there are many cheap binoculars made in China. As always, it is price, not country of origin that tells you what to expect in terms of quality and performance in a binocular, but nearly all binoculars, good or bad, under about $400 are made in China (with some very few exceptions), thanks to globalization, and that is irrespective of brand. In fact, all binocular brands that cover both the lower binocular price point and the mid-price point in the binocular market, such as Pentax binoculars, Nikon binoculars, Vortex binoculars, Bushnell binoculars, Burris binoculars and so on have their cheaper binocular models made in China and their more expensive models made in Japan. However, if you want that made in Japan binocular you will need to pay more than for a comparable model made in China. You do have a choice when it comes to binoculars and country of origin, but only if you can afford it. I do, however, wish manufacturers were more forthright as to labeling binoculars with country of origin. It is important to many of us.

We will, shortly, be coming up on outdoor concert season. I will be at a couple of these music venues, this summer (as a performer, so I will get a good seat) and I know, from experience, that many times you must find a seat quite a distance from the stage. That’s not necessarily a bad thing from the perspective of hearing the music, but it does limit you if you want to get an up close look at the performers. That’s why I usually bring a compact binocular to the concert.

You could, of course, carry a full-size binocular, but I think it is more than you need for this type of work and a bit too obvious from the standpoint of being discreet. Compact binoculars are also better choice than opera glasses, since opera glasses lack quality optics and offer too little magnification if you are far from the show.

With so many good compact binoculars under $100, really is no reason to go to the concert without a binocular. Two of my favorite compact binoculars under $100 are the venerable Nikon Travelite 8x25 and the Pentax UCF XII 8x25. Both have enough eye relief to be used with glasses or sunglasses and both offer a lot of optical performance for the dollar. I generally stay with an 8x compact binocular, rather then a 10x compact binocular, since an 8x compact bino will have a wider field of view and be easier to steady. However, if you want that 10x compact binocular, the very best buy in a 10x compact binocular is easily the Nikon Ecobins. The Ecobin is also waterproof, so if you also want a compact binocular for the back country, it is a great choice.

Spring is here, at last and, as always, it is exciting to observe the almost daily changes that announce the arrival of this season. For instance, if I never opened my eyes, I could still tell it was spring simply by listening to all the bird calls and bird songs. Yesterday, I heard my first Song Sparrow of the year, down along the river and this call now joins the ever-growing symphony of spring bird song that greets me each morning. I’ve been tempted to add my singing to the ensemble, but I don’t want to frighten any of these songsters, away. They don’t seem to mind my harmonica, though, so I’ll take that as a compliment.

I now make an almost daily trip on the bike trail, binoculars around my neck and digital cameras in the bike pack. I am so blessed by having a bike trail nearly right outside my front door and an excellent trail at that. The Oak Leaf Trail, here in Milwaukee, parallels both the Little Menomonee River and the Menomonee. Some of the bird habitat I have discovered along this trail ranks as superb – many brushy patches, wetlands, open areas with scattered trees, thick riparian forest and so on. I expect this trail to supply many warbler species on my list, this year. In fact, the Oak Leaf ranks right up there with some of the best urban trails I have traveled in my many years of wandering. It’s heaven for birding and bird watching and you will never catch me without a birding binocular around my neck when out on this trail.

About the pic:

This trail also supplies much of the wildlife in my more immediate neighborhood. No, that’s not a yard ornament in the pic, nor is it the latest in Wisconsin style mail service.