I Bought a Scope for Hawk-watching,,,Advice???? (1 Viewer)

[carjug]

I got a bad case of the "I wants" a couple of years ago at the local Hawk counting site. I finally gave in and bought a nice big scope for my sturdy old tripod. I've been practicing up on the local Turkey Vulture congregation. Any advice about getting on a flying bird, when to use it instead of binoculars, or anything else involving scopes and Hawk-watching would be quite welcome.
(Today I watched a family of Eagles eat a small mammal from a quarter-mile away.)

 

[omaksimenko]

Congrats on your new toy! If your concern about so-called “tunnel vision” - you may try to get a reflex sight and mount it parallel to the spotting scope. You’ll need a rail to mount both devices and a raiser to level the reflex sight, so you could quickly switch back and forth.

 

[Ratal]

Just use a good old cable tie sight - Perfect for sky raptors and you will be on them in a heart beat - I can follow and find high speed sea birds at wave top level with ease - Raptors in the skies are a doddle

 

[Ratal]

Cable-tie sighting device: IMPROVED! COLLAPSABLE!

Hello everyone, About three years ago Kimmo Absetz and I presented instructions how to make a simple sighting device for an angled scope, from one simple cable-tie: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=99084 Only recently my fellow countryman Folkert de Boer came up with an improved...

www.birdforum.net

 

[Mike Crawley]

I think it was the great golfist Gary Player who coined the phrase
“the more I practice, the luckier I get”
Go outside (even at home) a practice even if you only get on to everyday moving targets (cars, aircraft, pigeons, etc.)

 

[carjug]

Done. Rigged up a sight on the scope with thin Bungie cord and a rubber plumbing washer from the junk drawer. Got on the moon overhead first try. Amazin' how much stuff you can do when you do stuff. Thanks peeps!