Most difficult birding situation - optically (1 Viewer)

I'm not sure this qualifies as Optical issues or not for the purposes of the original question, but I do most of my birding when out hiking and I usually like to hike hills and mountains. Consequently I'm usually working hard, heart rate up, breathing well, when I see something that catches my eye.

Each week, unless I have something more adventurous planned I usually take around a 10 mile hike in local hills. There's a decent variety of birds there to glass, some birds of prey and at least one Buzzard that I tend to find at some point on the hills every week.

It takes a few moments to be able to steady myself enough to get a stable view through the binos in those moments after hiking hard one minute and going to stationary, I also have gone with a relatively high power bino though due to the distances often involved that I like to be able to glass at, so that doesn't help either.

dwatsonbirder said:

Apologies for the slight diversion, but does anyone have a suggestion to reduce fogging of glasses and/or binocular oculars when looking at an acute angle in rainforest?
I suspect the issue relates to the size of the surface area of the glasses and the combination of sweat and high humidity - would a smaller "reading glasses" type pair be more appropriate (even with the limitations of a reduced fov being in focus? Is there an anti-fogging spray which can be applied to prescription glasses?

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Years ago as a motorcyclist in the days before full-front helmets I wore goggles and these fogged up in the rain. A pal told me to wipe the inside of the goggles with a cut potatoe and by golly it worked.

Lee

LastStarfighter said:

There's a decent variety of birds there to glass, some birds of prey and at least one Buzzard that I tend to find at some point on the hills every week.
.

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Lets just hope that buzzard doesn't have some inside information on you....:gn:

dries1 said:

Like it was yesterday, gray and overcast with light rain.

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That's exactly how many British days are and in that sort of situation a binocular cannot have too much brightness or light transmission - I also think high saturation (Noctivid etc) helps bring back some of the colour that is leached out by the overwhelming greyness. I would love to observe over the kind of light conditions you have in parts of the U.S.

LastStarfighter... here in the urban jungle there aren't many hills but one of my favourite vantage points involves a climb up several floors of stairs. It's not a big deal, but even so I do notice that five minutes or so after getting there I often have to make a focus adjustment. If it's practical to get into a seated position, preferably one that lets you rest your elbows on your knees, that's probably the best way to steady your view - I try to do this whenever possible when I'm on the hill overlooking central London and it really helps.

Patudo said:

If it's practical to get into a seated position, preferably one that lets you rest your elbows on your knees, that's probably the best way to steady your view

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would monopodding help for long sessions of glassing?

Troubador said:

Years ago as a motorcyclist in the days before full-front helmets I wore goggles and these fogged up in the rain. A pal told me to wipe the inside of the goggles with a cut potatoe and by golly it worked.

Lee

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:-O fantastic stuff! I may give it a go when nobody is looking. Obtaining a potato in some of the places I've been to may pose a challenge however! I've acquired a pair of 8x32 binoculars so I may try these and see if their smaller size makes any difference. Cheers Lee.

a lot has been covered in this thread, but here's one:
It's when you're following a bird in flight.. perhaps it was in a tree or shrub, but then moved on, and you've not positively I'Ded it, or simply want 'more' out of the view. Nonetheless, you are locked on like a guided missile, as it moves rapidly, perhaps amongst scattered, backlit foliage, and unfortunately headed for the sun. There's a point where you must bail to make sure you're not going to get a direct view of the sun in your eyes through the optics, and fry your retina like ants being burnt under a magnifying glass....
Curiosity runs smack into self-preservation, and the binoculars are the medium through which all this takes place.

Maljunulo said:

Back lit by the sky, ...............

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:t: