Well, I snuck out again from the cave, to do some quick shopping over the weekend, and on the way stopped at my town site by the railroad tracks again, same as last week. But this time, it was just warmer and some sun instead of drizzle, though a quiet day there behind the strip office center on a weekend day. The grass field behind the railroad tracks was alive again with birds, I was pleased to see, as were the nearer bushes, wires and trees, and sky too for fly-bys. And the occasional mood upsetting commuter train, of course to breeze by, and blow its horn along the way, reorganizing the wildlife as it passes. Though luckily, the weekend schedule is better than weekday interruptions here.
All I had with my are my car bins, the Minolta Classic II 8x40 Porros, that don't seem to be a big handicap either in most cases. In fact at one point in viewing I just thought to myself, what a great view from these old bins, and what more could I ask, what more could I need than these! They were doing a great job of it, and I was glad I had them-my cheapest pair of used binoculars, bought for a paltry $50 back when it meant a lot to me, that $50 bucks!
One thing that surprised me though, was the setting of the diopter to my eyes that day, was far different than I had been using them before, more minus than plus, as I usually use them. But I could tell once I did adjust them, it was even a better view right away, and I was glad I decided to adjust them. Though this diopter just moves on its own, with some downward pressure on the oculars in use. So I have to keep adjusting them-no problem, as they have a useful embossed scale that is easy to see, so I just keep an eye on the setting as I use them. Yes, I probably could O-ring them also if I went to the trouble to find ones to fit.
I saw a bunch of birds but nothing out of the ordinary here except for a lone Eastern Kingbird, which I thought it could be at the time, for it's white tail stipe at the end of the tail, but it looked slimmer and smaller than I remembered from my one other time I saw one, which was closer to me that time. So this time, I was happy with the detail I could see with my aging Porros, but wishing they were 10x instead of 8x, just to get more detial in the wide open fields there. It's not the first time I felt that there, so I think I need to keep a 10x for when I stop by the office site in the future. That is where I believe I saw my first Bald Eagle-in the same Minolta bins I had in the car. That was even farther away than the Kingbird-even twice the distance at first, so yes, 10x can really be useful for getting closer to the birds that are farther than you would like to view them.
But I can say without a doubt, I like the Porro view a lot, for the 3D depth of field you get when you are focused on a spot, such as when I noticed that an area of grass was more in focus with the Porros, than when I used my roofs, which had to be refocused to show as much detail in a small area. I noticed this when comparing my 10x Porros to my 10x roofs, the first time. And now again when focusing on various areas of the field, and seeing the great depth of view these provide, showing wildflowers in groups that just please the eye to view them.
On another note, I found this helpful bird ID'ing site by various attibutes, which others may find helpful too:
http://www.realtimerendering.com/birds/birds.html
It's what I used to determine that it was really another Kingbird that I saw again, mainly from the white tail banding I saw. And then I found my Sibley's guide again, that fell under a piece of furniture-and was glad to have it after not having it for a while! I have a few other bird books too-like the Audubon guide, and Pennsylvania Birds, and another general birding book with great pictures, but missed having the Sibley when I wanted it!
Back at home this Spring, because I've been tied to the apartment lately, all I can do is witness the coming of Spring in the flora-the Dogwoods, Giant Pink Rhodedendrons, wildflowers and weeds blooming, and now the Sour Cherry tree-popcorn type blooms at first, and now the cherries are growing and changing color. That is my main focus lately at home, but also a few birds as well-a lucky glimpse of a colorful Cardinal, Bluejay, Goldfinch, or Starling, and the Crows, Doves, Sparrows, Robins, Catbird, Mockingbird, etc-but few and farbetween it seems here at times. But I am gateful for what I see even at home, as the changing seasons bring entirely different views here, and just depeding on lighting, it can vary from dramatic to ordinary, but it always makes me happy I have some bins to make it all look so much more impressive in the details I can see.
And when I get a chance to be away from home, it's just that more special to me to see different birds, and even white-tailed deer, and so much more flora that I ever see at home, that I always marvel in nature, even if it is still in suburban terrain, and the magic I see through my binoculars is so much different than with my own eyes! This is a secret world, only available to those in the know. But I hope we all can do more to get others interested in these special devices, and the natural world we all live in but don't always see without them.
