Raptor survey as a work, what kind of bins? (1 Viewer)

[Thotmosis]

When I’m on Crete i use my Duovid 8-12x42 on 12x setting for watching raptors and vultures (and distant goats ), it works fine but its a somewhat heavier bin and fov is not the widest in the current market. For me it works adequate but I’m not watching for hours on a row. So the pro’s would choose maybe something else i guess.

 

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Here in Finland every serious birder has finnstick and if you come to see raptors without it, you might get laughed off... I made mine of broomstick and I have teached same method to some less experianced fellow birders and to an exchange student from Austria and they all said that it's great improvement.

Of course, you need your finnstick in Finland. You would stick out from the crowd if you didn't have it!

 

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Even better I would suggest my Fujinon 14x40 TS-X.
It may get heavy for 8 hours but a chest harness, and extra batteries, will help.
FOV is a negative
I am surprised that no-one has suggested the wider FOV Canon 10x42

edj

Both are too heavy when you are hand holding for hours on end, especially when you are looking up most of the time! With a finnstick they would work.

 

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I'll take the bait and recommend the 10x42 L IS. It has a pretty decent 6.5 degree field of view, excellent image quality, good stabilisation, and since it has a 1/4" tripod thread on the bottom of the body, it attaches directly to a finnstick without needing a support plate or a tripod attachment gizmo, which almost equalises the weight difference between it and most of the other alphas.

A fully charged pair of Eneloop X batteries will easily last a full day of raptor watching, probably several, and Lithiums even longer. I have only had my batteries run out in situations where it has been at least a couple of weeks since I last charged the pair.

For raptor watching, I don't think aperture bigger than 42mm is necessary since they pretty much fly only during daylight hours. In a 10x, IS is very useful for quickly picking up distant raptors, but if the main criterion is finding as many as possible, then a wide-field 8x such as the 8x42 NL might be the best choice.

The Canon 10x42 IS-L is very good but a little too heavy for me handholding, but it would be alright with a finnstick. In comparing the Canon 10x42 IS-L and a regular 8x42, yes the 8x42 would have a bigger FOV but the Canon 10x42 IS-L would go much deeper, and you can pick up raptors at much greater distances. It is the same with aircraft. IS binoculars are superb for aircraft spotting.

 

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@[email protected]
You can quote this unrelated stuff about IS binos all day long. It still doesn't change the fact that I don't believe your statement that you can ID a bird with a 12x36IS that you cannot even see with a normal 8x bino!
So as long as nobody else steps forward and says, "yes, Dennis is absolutely right, I did the comparison", it will not change anything.
And for the record: I own an 18x50IS so I know most of the unrelated stuff you posted that does nothing to solve this particular question.

The point is you will go much deeper into the sky with a Canon 12x36 IS III versus a regular 8x42 binocular. You will be able to spot raptors at a 50% greater distance than you will with the 8x42. Don't think in one dimension or just FOV. Think in two dimensions, FOV and reach. With a higher magnification binocular, your sphere of spotting hawks is much bigger volume because it ha much greater depth.

 

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When I’m on Crete i use my Duovid 8-12x42 on 12x setting for watching raptors and vultures (and distant goats ), it works fine but its a somewhat heavier bin and fov is not the widest in the current market. For me it works adequate but I’m not watching for hours on a row. So the pro’s would choose maybe something else i guess.

What kind of goats? I love goats!

 

[GrampaTom]

Spent several hours here last fall,

Raptors at Hawk Hill - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)

Had met one of the volunteers at a local birding hotspot and took her invitation to visit Hawk Hill the next week. Whew! What a place. Its a high "hill" overlooking the Pacific, and Marin to the west and north. The Golden Gate Bridge looms to the south, with San Francisco behind. Mind bogglingly beautiful. 1042s were not a disadvantage in any way. Birds are high, so even though soaring rapidly about, a wide FOV was not needed. 4 volunteers behind a portable fence with scopes and binos take turns staring out in assigned directions while a 5th records the shouted reports from each. Those people are very talented as we heard them call out bird IDs that were to us mere back lit silhouettes, but we could then with benefit of their ID verify by comparing to Sibley, Merlin/Cornell.

 

[Patudo]

Raptor watching makes up probably 99% of my birding. For the work you describe, assuming you can observe fairly close to the windfarm site, a quality 8x42 is fine. The best observation point may however be from further away in which case I would use 10x (but most medium or larger raptors passing through your zone should still be identifiable with 8x). You will probably be able to observe from a sitting position so a larger binocular (x42 or even x50) should be fine - I always found these sizes easier on the eyes when scanning for long periods (as opposed to sighting birds by eye and confirming ID with binoculars). When scanning for hour after hour ease of view becomes very important, probably the single most important factor. I've found the so-called "flat field" to help somewhat with ease of view/fatigue, although it's not really essential.

I tend to estimate altitude by reference to buildings of known heights in my area, but always wondered how accurate my estimates were. Obviously when a bird is near the top of the Shard you know it's a little over 1000 feet up, but when it looks two and a half times as high but is say 500m closer there is going to be some element of error. I'd like to hear more from dwatson re the stopwatch method. Direction of travel you should be able to estimate via landmarks.