What an exciting day! My first scope came, a Bushnell Spacemaker, I decided to start cheap for $125 I got the angled eye scope with 2 eye pieces, one is zoom 15-45, a little car tripod, a soft case, a hard case and a cover for the scope that velcros on to protect it I guess, it also has a pull out lens hood...unbelivevable for just 125. Since I'm not used to a really good one it seems quite adequate, I mean I can see the detail, there does seem to be ghost images in really bright light with reflections, but tonight in low foggy light it did fine.
To test it out I was going out to Bodega Head, packing up all my gear, winter clothes and the new scope I took off. Before I got anywhere near the head, right at the beginning of the bay, I really was graced with an amazing sight. Less than 50 feet from the roadway, I spotted about 30 white pelicans, 3 smaller brown ones, blue herons and 6 or 7 great egrets along with tons of gulls and a godwit. The SARDINES had come in close to shore an it was a feast....for the birds and me. I took my little sketchbook, my little camera, my little stool and the new scope and plunked myself down, it took about 15 min to get the hang of the scope What a treat! I watched, sketched(badly as usual with a new bird) photographed and just basked in the sheer wonder of it all. Colder than heck, but didn't notice except for my hands...
here's a pic, but the herons and egrets are not in it...One time I saw a pelican get a fish, a gull stole it, another gull got that, and finally a blue heron took it away from that gull and gulped it down