Just got back from Costa Rica. Saw a male and female Quetzal. Also, many other birds. Monteverde Rain Forest is a birding paradise. Thought you Leica lovers out there would like to know that the guide used a dirty old well used pair of Leica Trinovids 8x42 and a Leica spotting scope. One birder asked what power the spotting scope was and he replied "I have no idea all I know is that it works!" The guide could spot a bird before anybody had any idea it was there. I would have never seen the Quetzal without him. It rains there almost ALL the time so the Nikon 8x32 SE was out. The Zeiss 8x32 FL's worked flawlessly. Had one great time in Costa Rica and I highly recommend it to all birders!
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Costa Rica! (1 Viewer)
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Dennis,
Thanks for yet another story about the "real" birder with a much used Leica Trinovid. Maybe if I went and beat mine up, somebody would mistake me for one.
Glad to hear you had a successful trip, and had a your FL along. Everybody says Costa Rica is really something.
Ron
Thanks for yet another story about the "real" birder with a much used Leica Trinovid. Maybe if I went and beat mine up, somebody would mistake me for one.
Glad to hear you had a successful trip, and had a your FL along. Everybody says Costa Rica is really something.
Ron
Hi Dennis
Sounds like a great trip and its genuine real use feedback which i think can differ from pure optical evaluations
Often seen Costa Rica advertised for bird watching hols and fancied the idea maybe one day
As for the guide "seeing" stuff before everyone i guess it just goes to show what an advantage experience and being around an area for a while can give
We all know some folk can see much more with less so to speak
Many a time at local bird sactuary's and hides i have been left looking like a blundering newbie with my high quality bins whilst a seasoned watcher with 30 year old battered bins takes the plaudits and literally sees everything
Regards
RichT
Sounds like a great trip and its genuine real use feedback which i think can differ from pure optical evaluations
Often seen Costa Rica advertised for bird watching hols and fancied the idea maybe one day
As for the guide "seeing" stuff before everyone i guess it just goes to show what an advantage experience and being around an area for a while can give
We all know some folk can see much more with less so to speak
Many a time at local bird sactuary's and hides i have been left looking like a blundering newbie with my high quality bins whilst a seasoned watcher with 30 year old battered bins takes the plaudits and literally sees everything
Regards
RichT
Dale Forbes
Swarovski Optik, Austria
the thing with Costa Rica is that the alpha diversity is never particularly jaw-dropping: mostly about 350 bird species in a single area.
but the beta diversity is absolutely jaw-dropping: drive an hour or two and the alpha diversity is once again about 350 bird species, but 70% of those are different!
Caribbean Lowlands, Cloud Forest, Rainshadow Slope Forest, Dry Nicoya Forest, Pacific Lowland... bhaw, just so much !!!
I can only agree with what Dennis said, if you have the chance, it really is a great country to visit (and walking through Corcovado national park is probably one of the absolute highlights of my life)
Lot of biodiversity in insects too. I took a NITE hike through the jungle and there is scary bugs in there at night! There grasshoppers are about 6 inches long! You hear some really scary noises too.
Dale Forbes
Swarovski Optik, Austria
CR has more butterfly species than Africa. now that is impressive :eek!:
the various blue morpho species were always my favorite, though
oh, and the full moon crab migration on the southwest coast in feb/mar/april is one of the greatest natural spectacles I have ever experienced
Costa Rica, definitely on the bucket list.
I had to laugh regarding the old bins seeing the most. Was at the National Wildlife Center outside of Washington DC, before I was a birder. A seminar let out for break and everyone went outside on the deck next to me. Some older gentleman with unrecognizable beat-up bins, and a cig hanging from his mouth was a bird spotting machine. He was from the UK and I always wondered if he was trained by the Royal Air Force to spot planes or something cause he had the nack.
I had to laugh regarding the old bins seeing the most. Was at the National Wildlife Center outside of Washington DC, before I was a birder. A seminar let out for break and everyone went outside on the deck next to me. Some older gentleman with unrecognizable beat-up bins, and a cig hanging from his mouth was a bird spotting machine. He was from the UK and I always wondered if he was trained by the Royal Air Force to spot planes or something cause he had the nack.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
Good job you said he was British ... he could have been Chandler Robbins. You have seen that thread on Chandler Robbins' bins?
I checked out the thread, and since it was so long ago I can not be sure, I'll bet he was there though. I probably was talking to the UK version of Chandler, the guy I chatted with enjoyed to smoke, a lot, ashes all over his bins. Chandler's career made such an impact(seems like his bins did as well).
Guess I can not whine anymore about my measly 29 year career and thoughts of retiring in 8-9 years now seem out of the question. I had no idea how lucky I was to live so close to the fantastic facility at Patuxent and miss a chance to talk to a legend. Maybe some of his spirit rubbed off and that is why I ended up a birder.
Guess I can not whine anymore about my measly 29 year career and thoughts of retiring in 8-9 years now seem out of the question. I had no idea how lucky I was to live so close to the fantastic facility at Patuxent and miss a chance to talk to a legend. Maybe some of his spirit rubbed off and that is why I ended up a birder.
