The Binocular Journal (3 Viewers)

Dangers of birdwatching.

I live and farm in ND, and right now we have been in full migration of waterfowl, as we live
in the central flyway for ducks and geese making their trip back to Canada, up north.

On my farm we have flocks that land on our ponds, and it is fun seeing some ducks such as redheads, blue
winged teal and others that do not always live here in the summer.

My go to binoculars today were a Zeiss SF 10x42, and Nikon Monarch 5 20x56, hand held from my
pickup truck window.

The other day while working in the yard, some high flying flocks came over and I heard a splat right
close by, missed me by 3 feet.

We call those bird bombs..!

I always wear a cap, and now you know why.

Jerrry

That sure is 10x country and to my eye beautiful. I love open country. I have hitchhiked through ND twice back in the day. I wanted to stay and look around more but I was just heading somewhere and rides were not easy to get out there but just driving and looking out the window was great. I've been hit on the head by sea gulls twice. It's like having someone break a rotten egg on your head.

Oh man, I've got you guys x10! I was working on a dairy farm in Virginia in the late 70's, and while milking, I was putting the milking machine on one cow, and it bombed me good! Right on the head! Luckily it wasn't in the middle of Winter, and I had a water hose on it in a second or two, but it was kind of funny, in retrospect, of course! The owner's son Delmar couldn't stop laughing, I don't know why!

Just be glad it wasn't a pig.

OK, I'll take your word for it! No thanks!

I got out with binoculars 3 times over the weekend. Saturday morning I hit the local reservoir, which is filling up nicely due to the recent rains. The water has overflowed the creek channel, and is filling up the valley, so there is a lot more real estate for the ducks to enjoy. We usually have Mallards, Coots, and Wood Ducks, but now there are Ruddy Ducks, Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants, and the Gadwall, which is a pretty quiet looking duck relative to some. The male and the female, at a glance, both resemble female Mallards. I had to take photos, and check Sibley to see what they were...

On the way out, I was finally able to spot a Pacific Slope Flycatcher, a little Kinglet sized bird that whistles away in the upper reaches of a leafed out tree, and is generally not to be seen. We ran into 2 other birders, and it took the 4 of us to track that little bugger down, and there it was in plain view all along.

That night we went to hear an orchestra play at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I don't think I'd been there since the 90's, when I saw King Crimson, with Adrian Belew. It was a balmy evening with the Boston Pops symphony playing the music of John Williams, the film composer. I took my 8x32 Trinovid HD's and passed them around our group. It was fun to be able to get close in on a musician that happened to be featured on a specific composition, as well as just scan along all the individuals, concentrating in unison. It was a timeless tableau, and reminded me of Degas' paintings of orchestras and ballets. The 8x32 Trinnie is a great portable bin that works well with eyeglasses. I was glad I brought it along.

This morning I drove to the other end of our street that ends in a closed road that runs along a ridge into Orinda. We used to walk our dogs up there, when we still had dogs...Its a good birding spot with a lot of Oak, pine, and bay laurel on the way up, and then some nice open scrub, where the cattle run on the other side of the barbed wire. I checked out an oak where I'd seen some Cooper's hawks building a nest a few weeks ago. What I saw was a pile of sticks on the ground below the tree. I'm guessing their nest collapsed during construction, as it didn't look very far along. For birding, I was using a pair of Zeiss 8x42 SF's that I received last week. They are a very good fit for me. I like the balance, they accommodate my eye relief and narrow IPD needs, and have a wonderfully immersive, wide view. Smooth, fast focus. I have to thank Black Crow for alerting me to the discount at Sport Optics, which combined with Zeiss's sale, tempted me into pulling the trigger.

There were a couple of birds of note. One was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which makes a sort of distant car alarm/honk sound in a repetitive fashion. I usually hear them a lot more often than I ever see them. In this case I found one that was hollowing out a branch on an old Pine. In fact it seemed to have several holes going, or perhaps other off duty Nuthatches were responsible for those.. Anyways, it stayed put, so I could enjoy watching it labor away with regular, suspicious, glances in my direction. In addition to that, the Ash-throated Flycatcher has returned to the area. This is a long, lanky bird with a pompadour crest, and a burry sort of wolf whistle. It is not a shy bird, and in comparison to the tiny, hard working Nuthatch, looked like some Rockabilly star lounging out at the bar between sets...

when I saw King Crimson, with Adrian Belew.

Click to expand...

My kind of music. I saw KC play in a little church in Grand Rapids Mich in 71 and AB play with the Bears which was a band he formed for a short time in Seattle when I worked for Ticketmaster sometime in the 80s. I still listen to KC, in fact in the car on the way to some birding this very day.(Red)

It must be fun to take a really good binocular to a concert.

Beautiful photos btw. Today I saw a large gregarious group of Acorn Woodpeckers using the 8x EII.

black crow said:

Today I saw a large gregarious group of Acorn Woodpeckers using the 8x EII.

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They seem to be synonymous with large and gregarious. I find groups of them zealously guarding their home trees that are stuffed with acorns at various locations. You can sure hear them barking/yakking from quite a distance. Today I observed one pull an acorn out of one branch and carefully move it to another not more than 10 feet away. What was that all about?

They've got a plan...

Next time you go to a show, take that EII...

-Bill

tenex said:

.... we saw a pair of ducks (at the far shore of course, not a good view) I couldn't ID. Overall dull light brownish, head possibly somewhat darker, white side patch near the tail on both sexes and black tail feathers on the male, duller brown on the female. White belly when dabbling. No other obvious color, though the light was getting poor. Any idea what they could have been?

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Look up the Gadwall. From a distance they are a pretty dull, brown duck. Markings are subtle. The beak color varies from orange to black. A pair I saw yesterday had one of each.

wdc said:

They seem to be synonymous with large and gregarious. I find groups of them zealously guarding their home trees that are stuffed with acorns at various locations. You can sure hear them barking/yakking from quite a distance. Today I observed one pull an acorn out of one branch and carefully move it to another not more than 10 feet away. What was that all about?

They've got a plan...

Next time you go to a show, take that EII...

-Bill

Click to expand...

There are some telephone poles that they had to take down because they got so many holes drilled in them. I thought they were beautiful with an acorn in each hole. Now they are covering them in metal. Yuck

My concert days are done. I do my listening at home or in the auto.

wdc said:

...This morning I drove to the other end of our street that ends in a closed road that runs along a ridge into Orinda....Its a good birding spot with a lot of Oak, pine, and bay laurel on the way up....

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I had to look up the Bay Laurel tree-thanks for mentioning them again. They can get pretty old, from what I read, and your general area seems to have some nice ones! I like the picture of a small grove on a hilltop here:

https://baynature.org/article/taste-bay-laurel/

Looks like a nice digital magazine too for your area Bill! Enjoy your new SF's- it sounds like you are very happy with them already, that's great! That was a nice write-up you did on your finds this weekend again-just makes me want to be there!

I stopped for a short while today at one of my local places I like, behind my wife's office by the railroad tracks. I had forgotten the last time I was there, they had wiped out most all of the flora beside the tracks, and new ties were laying here and there, and the creosote smell was so strong, it just wasn't fun being there. Today, they had completed their work on the tracks, laying some new ties, and reballasting the tracks too. But the smell was still there, and it really made me mad about all the prime cover and habitat for the birds that used to live there. Decimated is the word I would use-they even wiped out the wild grasses that I love so much too, down to the ground. There were even some nice Holly trees, Juniper, etc, that can't be replaced, and other small trees, scrub and cover. It really is a shame-no, it's not an official nature area, but it was natural evolution and an environment that had birds year round. So food and nesting sites are depleted, just to do a little maintenance on the tracks. :-C Fortunately, there is some nature on this side of the tracks that is private commercial land, and has some trees on it. Still, not many birds around like usual. They even cut some grasses and scrub on the other side of the chain link fence going away from the tracks toward the old factory, I don't know why. At least there is some beyond that, in another field closer to the buildings that have cover and seeds for the birds. Deer used to bed and feed there too. I don't like change, and especially when it affects wildlife and habitat.

I was about to head over to a new spot last week, a real nature preserve (Gwynedd) when I got notice from our local news patch that they were having a controlled burn on the meadows there this past Wednesday, and that really made me mad too! They wanted to destroy non-native species of plants apparently, like a certain rose plant, and Crabapple too, it said. I hate it when man messes with nature, and I certainly didn't want to go see a burned out area either, especially one done on purpose! I hope it's not a lot of area damaged there, as I do want to go see it, and explore a bit. But now I'm not in a hurry to be disappointed either if they really messed the place up. Right when birds are most active too! I'm not sure I understand that timing either.

There are other places, and I will just have to find some others I like. There are two other small places I've been wanting to go see not far away, so maybe my next outing I can hit one. The leaves are finally starting to come in a bit here-but it's very slow so far with the cold weather we've had for a while. Looking forward to using my 7x42's when the canopy comes in this year!

wdc said:

Look up the Gadwall. From a distance they are a pretty dull, brown duck. Markings are subtle. The beak color varies from orange to black. A pair I saw yesterday had one of each.

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Yes, thanks, this was a pair of Gadwalls. Your previous post had already prompted me to search harder. The Sibley illustration didn't show the white patch very well but online photos did; it can look quite rhomboid, as it did for us. And the male has that black tail.

tenex said:

Yes, thanks, this was a pair of Gadwalls. Your previous post had already prompted me to search harder. The Sibley illustration didn't show the white patch very well but online photos did; it can look quite rhomboid, as it did for us. And the male has that black tail.

Click to expand...

A Gadwall can look rather dull and boring from a distance but when closer and looking with binoculars, there is a lot of beautiful detail to be seen in their feathers. That is a situation when even though close, I like to have a 10X rather than an 8X binocular.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/com-aab-media/photo/65533461-720px.jpg

A bit of a miraculous happening today. I took out my ex girlfriend's daughter for a hike today. Her and I have a great bond even though I don't with her mom lol. I let her wear some of my binoculars today and she got to look through the Genesis and Nikon EII and she is now hooked. We had a long hike up high on a ridge line that lasted 3 hours and had a wonderful talk.

Now here's the miracle and if you don't believe this I don't blame you because I can hardly believe it and I was there. We were going up a steep trail and I was telling her about my times in the high desert and she asked me if I had ever found arrowheads and I told her I had found several hundred and she sighed and said she had never found one but had looked and looked. Just as she said that she looked down at her feet on a trail that I have walked dozens of times and there found a perfect carnelian arrowhead. My jaw dropped and she screamed with delight. I never talk about my arrowheads hardly ever anymore and yet right then in a place I've never found an arrowhead (anywhere within 7 miles of Ashland) she finds a beautiful gem of one. The odds of it happening right while we mentioned the subject I would put at about 1 in a million. Too cool.

We watched lots of vultures flying just above us and basked in each others company on a perfectly sunny day.

I really love that young lady and have made her my heir as her biological father died a drug addict when she was very tiny. I almost never hike with anyone but my dogs so this was a very special occasion and to celebrate when I got home I found a PM from someone here on a demo deal with $650 off a pair of 10x32 Leica Ultravid HD-PLUS and so I bought them. Nice ending to a miraculous day.

bluespiderweb said:

I had to look up the Bay Laurel tree-thanks for mentioning them again. They can get pretty old, from what I read, and your general area seems to have some nice ones! I like the picture of a small grove on a hilltop here:

https://baynature.org/article/taste-bay-laurel/

Looks like a nice digital magazine too for your area Bill! Enjoy your new SF's- it sounds like you are very happy with them already, that's great! That was a nice write-up you did on your finds this weekend again-just makes me want to be there!

I stopped for a short while today at one of my local places I like, behind my wife's office by the railroad tracks. I had forgotten the last time I was there, they had wiped out most all of the flora beside the tracks, and new ties were laying here and there, and the creosote smell was so strong, it just wasn't fun being there. Today, they had completed their work on the tracks, laying some new ties, and reballasting the tracks too. But the smell was still there, and it really made me mad about all the prime cover and habitat for the birds that used to live there. Decimated is the word I would use-they even wiped out the wild grasses that I love so much too, down to the ground. There were even some nice Holly trees, Juniper, etc, that can't be replaced, and other small trees, scrub and cover. It really is a shame-no, it's not an official nature area, but it was natural evolution and an environment that had birds year round. So food and nesting sites are depleted, just to do a little maintenance on the tracks. :-C Fortunately, there is some nature on this side of the tracks that is private commercial land, and has some trees on it. Still, not many birds around like usual. They even cut some grasses and scrub on the other side of the chain link fence going away from the tracks toward the old factory, I don't know why. At least there is some beyond that, in another field closer to the buildings that have cover and seeds for the birds. Deer used to bed and feed there too. I don't like change, and especially when it affects wildlife and habitat.

I was about to head over to a new spot last week, a real nature preserve (Gwynedd) when I got notice from our local news patch that they were having a controlled burn on the meadows there this past Wednesday, and that really made me mad too! They wanted to destroy non-native species of plants apparently, like a certain rose plant, and Crabapple too, it said. I hate it when man messes with nature, and I certainly didn't want to go see a burned out area either, especially one done on purpose! I hope it's not a lot of area damaged there, as I do want to go see it, and explore a bit. But now I'm not in a hurry to be disappointed either if they really messed the place up. Right when birds are most active too! I'm not sure I understand that timing either.

There are other places, and I will just have to find some others I like. There are two other small places I've been wanting to go see not far away, so maybe my next outing I can hit one. The leaves are finally starting to come in a bit here-but it's very slow so far with the cold weather we've had for a while. Looking forward to using my 7x42's when the canopy comes in this year!

Click to expand...

Barry, Thanks for the observant report, and I'm sorry to hear that one of your birding spots was torn up for railroad track maintenance. I sometimes bird around my workplace at lunch. It is a nice 'campus-like' environment, but the gardeners are all about making things clean and clipped, so there's an ongoing trim, mow, and leaf blower campaign that probably ruins a lot of habitat on a regular basis. We do have birds, but I don't think they can settle in as much as they'd like. Nature needs to be allowed to make its own mess, and left to evolve.

Have you been to Aududon's property? I know that is around Philly somewhere. I dare say that would be a 'pro-bird' environment...

The bay laurel around where I live often just grow in a tangle amongst redwoods and oaks, not unlike bent pipe cleaners. They usually do not have the form of a tree with a main trunk. However, I think in groups they can be collectively sculpted by prevailing winds, as in the photo you sent a link to. You see that on the hills of west Marin, between Nicasio and Pt. Reyes Station.

Enjoy your Meoptas!

-Bill

BruceH said:

A Gadwall can look rather dull and boring from a distance but when closer and looking with binoculars, there is a lot of beautiful detail to be seen in their feathers. That is a situation when even though close, I like to have a 10X rather than an 8X binocular.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/com-aab-media/photo/65533461-720px.jpg

Click to expand...

Dad-blame it Bruce, I just sent back a pair of Meopta HD 10 x 42, because I couldn't see the entire field with my glasses, but had also convinced myself that the instability of the view was not to my liking, relative to the 8x42 format.

Now you tempt me with detail on the Gadwall... I agree it is a bit of Persian rug in closer views. ...

I shall not be swayed by the allure of feather detail on the Gadwall...

Of course one solution is to simply get closer to the bird... It works with photography, should work with bins!

-Bill

That is a pretty amazing mix of patterns and texture, and makes a very beautiful and interesting duck! And the glossy black bill offsets the patterns just so. Yes Bill, you might need some power to see the water drops on the head too! Or get a bigger telephoto lens like they used in that great picture, probably. ; )

wdc said:

Barry, Thanks for the observant report, and I'm sorry to hear that one of your birding spots was torn up for railroad track maintenance. I sometimes bird around my workplace at lunch. It is a nice 'campus-like' environment, but the gardeners are all about making things clean and clipped, so there's an ongoing trim, mow, and leaf blower campaign that probably ruins a lot of habitat on a regular basis. We do have birds, but I don't think they can settle in as much as they'd like. Nature needs to be allowed to make its own mess, and left to evolve.

Have you been to Aududon's property? I know that is around Philly somewhere. I dare say that would be a 'pro-bird' environment...

The bay laurel around where I live often just grow in a tangle amongst redwoods and oaks, not unlike bent pipe cleaners. They usually do not have the form of a tree with a main trunk. However, I think in groups they can be collectively sculpted by prevailing winds, as in the photo you sent a link to. You see that on the hills of west Marin, between Nicasio and Pt. Reyes Station.

Enjoy your Meoptas!

-Bill

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Agreed, 100% Bill! I hate it when the lawn mowers and trimmers around here destroy my little part of the world outside that I watch through my bedroom window-the great weeds and such, and wildflowers, all lost to them usually when everything has to be gone to be perfect for them. There's little enough out back there already! Fortunately things grow back in time, but the cycle repeats endlessly, unfortunately. And it destroys food and cover besides. But that's on a very small scale, compared to what I was talking about before by the railroad, and also the controlled burn at Gwynedd.

No, I haven't been to Audubon's yet, thanks for the idea! I did look it up, and saw it was not too far, and looks interesting. Appreciate it Bill!

Interesting about the Bay Laurels. I saw where the Marin hills are on the map, compared to where you are. Looks like a bit of a truck. Very nice looking area too, similar to your hills. I also saw Mt Diablo, over your way, closer to Walnut Creek though, where the Rivendell people used to ride their bikes. Your general area has a lot to offer in natural spaces, even if it is not as rural as you would prefer. But then, you couldn't be hopping over to see the orchestra then either, so give and take, some of both is good!

black crow said:

Now here's the miracle... she asked me if I had ever found arrowheads and I told her I had found several hundred and she sighed and said she had never found one but had looked and looked. Just as she said that she looked down at her feet on a trail that I have walked dozens of times and there found a perfect carnelian arrowhead.

Click to expand...

Great story. If you like miracles (or coincidence) that's fine. But a lot goes on below our conscious awareness. It seems possible that she saw the arrowhead before she quite "saw' it, and that prompted her question just then?

By the way, when I was a boy my father and grandfather used to take me out to fields or riverbanks in NE Oklahoma where they sometimes found artifacts, and the only time I ever saw an arrowhead was when they practically steered me to one. I think I was just having a hard time getting interested in where I was, and seeing what was there when arrowheads weren't.

wdc said:

I shall not be swayed by the allure of feather detail on the Gadwall...
Of course one solution is to simply get closer to the bird... It works with photography, should work with bins!l

Click to expand...

There you go. I needed either a 15x and a tripod, or my 10x and a canoe.