Scanning for birds with binoculars (1 Viewer)

Here are my own rules for scanning for birds with binoculars. I hope that this will inspire others to add suggestions that will be useful to me, and to others. It's based on my local patch, which is mostly paths and lanes through farmland.

1) I can identify birds through binoculars that I haven't even noticed without them, so scanning does make sense even when there aren't any birds to be seen.

2) Looking directly at vegetation so thick that you can't see light through it is usually a waste of time, even when you can hear a bird singing there. If I hear something singing from a hedge that isn't too dense, I shift from side to side while looking with the naked eye in what I hope is the right direction, in case there is vegetation directly between the bird and me. I should also remember that I don't get a good idea of position from birdsong, because very often the singing stops just as a bird flushes nowhere near where I was looking.

3) Looking too far away can be very frustrating, because you'll pick up a lot of stuff you can't identify, but it can pay off, with buzzards, swifts, and other distinctive and interesting birds.

4) Scanning along the tops of trees and hedges will pick up quite a few birds, especially birds that have chosen an exposed perch to sing from. It also seems to pick up more distant birds in flight surprisingly often.

5) When you are about to walk round a corner, get ready to spot the birds that will take flight as soon as they see you.

6) To pick up birds in flight, keep looking at the bird as you raise the binoculars to your eyes, then look slightly ahead of the bird, wait a moment, and hope for the best. Or you could just follow it with the naked eye and hope it lands somewhere not too far away, because identifying small birds in flight is not that easy.

7) When you've finished tracking the bird you flushed, take a good look at where it came from; there might be more there.

I've only recently discovered the merits of scanning. The other day I caught two different species of hawk, one in the sky, another in a tree, by scanning an area with my binoculars that looked empty to my eye. I've seen all sorts of cool stuff in the sky just by scanning things far off...once I saw a bald eagle that way.

I find that there are some cases though when it's better to look without binoculars--whenever the birds are distinct enough that I can tell for sure what it is at the distance they're at, I go without the binoculars. When it's very early in the morning and still dark I find that binoculars don't do me much good...I can go by sounds and flight patterns and that's it.

I try and start scanning about a bit once iv heard something singing. Nothing worse than hearing it, but not seeing it. I saw my first dunnocks doing this.

also, if you want a good field of view to scan with, get a low power like 7x.

I do like wide field binoculars. I use Nikon E2 8x30, Swift 820 ED 8.5x44, and Bushnell Discoverer 7x42 - which actually have the narrowest real FOV of the three, but are waterproof and easy to look through.

Scanning is a great way to get a spot on something not seen with the naked eye. I did this recently and saw a Jay 9most common), hidden to naked eye by broken foliage. I saw it with the binos and watched as it worked intensly on an old nut which it held in its foot and against the branch. The bird felt hidden and did his stuff. I would have missed ihis activity otherwise.
Might I add another tip? When out walking, look at the ground too. You will be amazed at the clues there. I have found owl pellets at the foot of posts indicating a regular cough-up point. I have also seen Thursh anvil points where broken snail shells are next to a stone. There are old trees, with quite obvious "knocking points" for woodpeckers. I have found "plucking" evidence to for birds of prey. What I can advise is to note the points and then plot up, be patient and you will get a rare spot. Another tip is to keep a diary. This will help you keep a record of where and when you saw stuff. The beauty of having this info is that as you get more experienced, you will learn how some species influence others, and then perhaps get to see less often noted birds / nature. Another thing, sometimes it's best to keep moving as you inadvertantly disturbe birds and get to see them, as opposed to remaining still waiting for the birds to come to you. remember, you walk through many birds territory thus get to see more. Stay still, and you're in just one terrirory.
Hope this helps..
Pete...new to site and want to stay...

Henstooth said:

Another thing, sometimes it's best to keep moving as you inadvertantly disturbe birds and get to see them, as opposed to remaining still waiting for the birds to come to you.

Click to expand...

I find the opposite is true, while it's true they are often flushed by our movement, my approach to birding is frequently to find a likely spot for birds, find a comfortable place to sit and wait for them to appear.

I also find that when walking and on entering a new area, say a field gateway, comming out of a wood or when the topography changes in any other way, it is beneficial to approach slowly, stopping and waiting. Often then you see something before it sees you and are able to observe unobserved, if that makes sense.

Joanne

joannechattaway said:

I find the opposite is true, while it's true they are often flushed by our movement, my approach to birding is frequently to find a likely spot for birds, find a comfortable place to sit and wait for them to appear.

I also find that when walking and on entering a new area, say a field gateway, comming out of a wood or when the topography changes in any other way, it is beneficial to approach slowly, stopping and waiting. Oten then you see something before it sees you and are able to observe unobserved, if that makes sense.

Joanne

Click to expand...

Im a bit too keen to walk 10 miles a day, without really looking at a small patch, for fear i might miss something round the next corner. But at stodmarsh yesterday, i sat on a bench in a nice little wooded area where the birds are singing everywhere but you cant see a single 1. It only seemed to take a few minutes before i saw the first 1 move, then the next and so on, until id seen about 7 or 8 species. I'll be having a rest more often in future, especially now i take a flask each time i go. Very civilized. Mick

Interesting thread, this is.
I would like to add another tip: when out in the field let other birds do the scanning for you. Birds have better eyesight and will usually see birds of prey long before you will. Example: you're looking through bins at a group of waders standing idly in shallow water, some sleeping, heads tucked in.
Next moment they're all awake, heads lightly tilted while looking up at the sky. Something above your head has attracted their attention. Look up and scan the sky with your bins: bird of prey passing!

I like to sit behind my telescope and keep an eye on waders this way. No raptor will evade you.

Another tip: keep an eye out for crows. They are very convenient on your bird walk because the moment they spot a Goshawk they will give off alarm cries.
I can tell there's a Goshawk flying behind my back by a crow's alarming pitch.

Usually all birds fly up when there's an eagle about, or a Peregrine falcon, a good sign to start scanning the surroundings.

An owl hidden in dense thicket usually attracts a lot of small song birds that will mock it by fierce alarm calls.

If anyone can tell me other examples of indirect remote sensing I would be glad to hear it.

Greetings, Ronald

I'm very much an advocate of standing or sitting still for a bit... flushing birds will allow you to tick a bird as it belts its way away from you (if you can identify it in time!), but a bit of patience in a quiet spot will allow you good close up views. Plus a lot of birds slink away un-noticed and too much crashing around means they're gone before you even get a hint they're there.

For example, I spent about 15 minutes sat quietly and still in Sheffield's Botanical Gardens the other week in an area which on first glance had just a few pigeons and magpies. Within minutes two dunnocks were scampering away about three feet in front of me, and a small party of long-tailed tits flew into the trees above me. I've seen jays in the same spot by sitting and waiting.

Also, as soon as a few tits start flocking round you in a wood keep perfectly still. Stillness seems to be more important than silence, as I've still talked to companions (albeit quietly) while doing this. What appears at first to be just blue tits will flock round you, getting very close, and you'll notice great tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits, treecreepers, nuthatches and goldcrests among them, and if you're really lucky marsh and willow tits and lesser spotted woodpeckers.

I have found that scanning "empty" sky yields interesting results when looking for raptors. I am amazed by how high some of those birds fly. They are not high enough to be invisible, but they are high enough to be unnoticeable. Even after spotting them in bins, looking with my naked eye yields nothing until, finally, I can register the tiny speck.

As for walking vrs. sitting still - I am a member of the "find a good log and sit and wait 10-20 minutes" club. While "drive-by" birding does yield its share of flushed birds, it takes more back.

mcdowella said:

Here are my own rules for scanning for birds with binoculars. .

2) Looking directly at vegetation so thick that you can't see light through it is usually a waste of time, even when you can hear a bird singing there. If I hear something singing from a hedge that isn't too dense, I shift from side to side while looking with the naked eye in what I hope is the right direction, in case there is vegetation directly between the bird and me. I should also remember that I don't get a good idea of position from birdsong, because very often the singing stops just as a bird flushes nowhere near where I was looking.

Click to expand...

Also worth moving the focus wheel backwards and forwards a little to change the focus distance!