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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

What did you see in your binoculars today? (1 Viewer)

Tried to pick out a Med Gull in a flock of Black-Headed Gulls yesterday. Failed miserably. Did enjoy eating the filled Yorkshire pudding wrap though (roast pork, Apple sauce, cabbage, mash, gravy etc.) whilst looking for it.

Rich
 
Tried to pick out a Med Gull in a flock of Black-Headed Gulls yesterday. Failed miserably. Did enjoy eating the filled Yorkshire pudding wrap though (roast pork, Apple sauce, cabbage, mash, gravy etc.) whilst looking for it.

Rich

Good choice. Best avoid the sandwiches, as you know the dog wet on the picnic basket.
 
Nice Crow moment Lee, and to have had those interesting birds nesting nearby. Some years there has been a pair with a youngster hanging around, and one or another regularly softens bits of crust in our bird bath, which is on a pedestal.

Recently heard the distinctive croak and then spotted a raven flying straight over at height. Thought yesterday that I might have heard a cuckoo but suppose it's too early. My aunt used to hear choirs and church music playing in the town hall so perhaps it's me going cuckoo as well as deaf.

Several times thought I had spotted the odd cuckoo far away and had then gone for the binoculars, but it was always too late. It really must make sense for me to get a Pocket Victory, to go with Meopta 12x50 etc....

Chris
If you ever shove your binos in your trouser's pocket, make sure its the Victory Pockets and not the Meopta 12x50s...:eek!:

Just sayin'...

Lee
 
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Tons of woodpeckers, mostly because the river behind the house flooded about 3.5 yrs ago and has left a lot of nice snags for them...
 
I had my 10x50 Nobilem with me a week ago on a sunny day. I have been at the former Remagen bridge over the Rhine river where US Forces crossed the Rhine river for the first time in WW2. Fantastic view from the hill above the bridge over the Rhine valley.
There are like free lounge chairs available so I could watch all those high altitude airliners like three A380s at one time, all Emirates airline, while myself relaxing in the sunshine.
 
Late today while getting some exercise I could hear two Mistle Thrushes singing above the sound of the gusting strong wind. They are known for determindly singing in stormy weather and for this reason are called Storm Cock in some parts of the UK. Finally got to see one using Meopta MeoStar 10x32s and wow this was a dark one with its breast almost obliterated by overlapping dark spots. A Buzzard flew over and the Mistle uttered a couple of their 'rattle' calls and casually flew off. A lovely bird.

Lee
 
Chris
If you ever shove your binos in your trouser's pocket, make sure its the Victory Pockets and not the Meopta 12x50s...:eek!:

Just sayin'...

Lee
Lee
Very funny! to help my trousers not to come down when pocketting the meoptas, I have already tried hard with Bushnell Legend 8x26 and Nikon Travellite 8x25. They were not otherwise too bad but found them both awful to use because of exit pupil.

On that score for some reason sightron 8x32 (and all their clones, also being very consistent for proper alignment except Pentax 8x36) are exceptionally easy to use, even against x42. They are plenty bright and very sharp too, with nice colour and think they only miss out against the expensive bigger ones for blurring towards the edges. Very light and terrific value, but unfortunately they still won't quite so easily go into a pocket.
 
Late today while getting some exercise I could hear two Mistle Thrushes singing above the sound of the gusting strong wind. They are known for determindly singing in stormy weather and for this reason are called Storm Cock in some parts of the UK. Finally got to see one using Meopta MeoStar 10x32s and wow this was a dark one with its breast almost obliterated by overlapping dark spots. A Buzzard flew over and the Mistle uttered a couple of their 'rattle' calls and casually flew off. A lovely bird.

Lee
Lee
Nice tips about markings and calls, thank you. If one is not so lucky it does need to be quiet to hear such sounds above the cars, and dark to see the stars too.

Slightly off topic I know but I was hoping that brexit might just restore that world of Wind in the Willows and warm beer and sawdust, but the MPs seem to be winning after all!

The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
 
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Today I've packed the Nikon E (C) 12x40 to enjoy the acrobatic diving of the gannets, but I've been unlucky and the gannets were nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, right on the verge of a cliff some 100 m above the sea level I have enjoyed some utterly elegant Audouin gulls soaring by. But the best for the last: on the way back home, on a bushy area I've spotted a Balearic warbler, a species not as usual as the very common Sardinian warbler and its cousin, the blackcap. The 12x40 wouldn't have been an obvious choice for that particular patch of bushy forest, with pretty tight vegetation, but the moment I have located the Balearic warbler I've been able to feast my eyes on the grace of its chubby body, constantly upward looking tail, red ocular ring and orange legs. It's been the first time I've seen on in such detail, a memorable moment.
 
Slightly off topic I know but I was hoping that brexit might just restore that world of Wind in the Willows and warm beer and sawdust, but the MPs seem to be winning after all!

Would that Nigel, Boris, Jacob and the other architects of Brexit truly were the eccentric, yet ultimately harmless English country gents depicted in that well-loved book. But the future they are so astutely manoeuvering us towards, I fear, is one from the pages of Dickens rather than those of Grahame.
 
Gentlemen, you create delightful images to make your points but Brexit definitely belongs on Ruffled Feathers.

Meanwhile, what did we see through our binoculars today?

We have a pair of Blackbirds that regard our back garden as part of their territory and every morning the male has a bath in an old pot sink that we have part buried in the ground, and which usually has a couple of Palmate Newts in it under the stones we placed there for the birds to land on. The sink has been full of water due to recent rains and the Blackbird has a fine old time in it. Sure enough, there he was about half an hour ago, facing first in one direction and splashing with his wings and then turning the other way to repeat. Oddly his missus always bathes in our pond and doesn't seem attracted to the little old sink.

Lee
Moderator
 
A pair of gold finches on my niger seed bird feeder. This is really exciting for me as I put the feeder up about 6 months ago and it's had no interest at all and then yesterday I saw this pair of gold finches on it and they were back again this morning and I was able to take these photos. Taken on my old canon s3is with an additional 3.2x front mounted extender, so not great quality. Even though it's a miserable wet day the pair looked stunning through the binoculars.
 

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mpeace, lovely photos.

3.03 a.m. this morning fox turns up. I grab the Swift 8.5x44 HR/5.
Then his friend turns up.
Good view in binocular.
I grab camera.
First fox gets on its hind legs and looks in street rubbish bin aperture.
The rubbish bins have been emptied so the fox is only on its hind legs for four seconds.
Unfortunately the rubbish bin is black and the road surface is also blackish.
So the camera does not lock onto focus.
Good exposure. 0.6 secs f/2.8 1600 ISO. Canon G15 3.04 a.m.
Only managed one out of focus photo, but general features seen.

The next photo is a bit interesting.
Fox crosses road at about 8 ft per second.
So in the 0.6 seconds camera exposure, one gets a photo of an animal that looks like an 8ft long small brown alligator. Also not in focus.
We don't have many brown alligators around here, but someone might believe it.

Third photo blank as the fox is too fast for me.
 
Decided to commit to bird feeders in the garden and late yesterday cleaned and started up a largeish-plant-pot sized fountain, then hung two seed feeders; followed this morning with two half coconuts with suet, all about 3-4m outside our conservatory.
So I'm sat on the sofa in the living room late morning watching the athletics, at my side 9x63 Inpro bins. It's about 30m to the feeders from there but wife is wandering about through the conservatory to utility. Bit rainy so I wasn't too hopeful especially as the sound of the fountain was redundant.
And then

Never have I been so excited to see ... a pair of great tits, then a pair of blue tits
:bounce:
 
Decided to commit to bird feeders in the garden and late yesterday cleaned and started up a largeish-plant-pot sized fountain, then hung two seed feeders; followed this morning with two half coconuts with suet, all about 3-4m outside our conservatory.
So I'm sat on the sofa in the living room late morning watching the athletics, at my side 9x63 Inpro bins. It's about 30m to the feeders from there but wife is wandering about through the conservatory to utility. Bit rainy so I wasn't too hopeful especially as the sound of the fountain was redundant.
And then

Never have I been so excited to see ... a pair of great tits, then a pair of blue tits
:bounce:

Have to admit that a pair of great tits never disappoint.
 

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