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

The Binocular Journal (1 Viewer)

Yeah, that's it and where I want to be most of the time and where I am as much as possible. For me it's the only path with a heart.

I love comparing binoculars just like everyone else here. I just didn't grow up and into the world like most due to factors beyond my control. At the time it was not good but now somehow it's served me. I don't do the modern world that well and frankly I'm glad. I mostly like to play and to watch everything. When I'm hiking I'm where I want to be. It's one long hike and path that has stretched out the length of my life and it's brought me here to hang with you. I often wonder when hiking how far my feet have taken me. I've been walking most of my life. I hardly ever get in my car. I bought it new in 2010 and immediately took it to the Mexico border. Now in 2018 it's got just over 8000 miles.
 
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I enjoy these stories. Moreover, this is exactly why you like every binocular you try. It's not that you can't tell any difference between them, but that they all work, and what you're seeing matters much more to you.

Tenex

You have expressed that perfectly. This is what is in my head and my heart when I am testing binos before writing a review. The question I want to answer (and which doesn't satisfy some more technically oriented members) isn't so much what are the minute technical differences between one bino and another, it is: how usable and enjoyable are these binos for observing nature? And if a pair of binos has a technical weakness (or two) but you can still make good nature observations and enjoy it and never think about these weaknesses while doing it, then, YAY, these binos are usable and enjoyable and are doing what they were made to do.

Lee
 
Western Scrub-jay was split in 2016. It's now California Jay and Woodhouse's. BC you're looking at California.

Steller's Jay is just stunning though.

Nice thread, BTW. Good reading!
 
Tenex

You have expressed that perfectly. This is what is in my head and my heart when I am testing binos before writing a review. The question I want to answer (and which doesn't satisfy some more technically oriented members) isn't so much what are the minute technical differences between one bino and another, it is: how usable and enjoyable are these binos for observing nature? And if a pair of binos has a technical weakness (or two) but you can still make good nature observations and enjoy it and never think about these weaknesses while doing it, then, YAY, these binos are usable and enjoyable and are doing what they were made to do.

Lee

Right on! IMO that's a logical component to any binocular review. We are not just a machine using a machine (in the archaic sense). This stuff is magic and the kid in all of us knows that. Leave the heart and the kid out at our peril. :hi:
 
Nice report

I enjoy birding in town. There is often a lot going on there of interest if you can handle being stared at by people.

Thanks, and yeah - there are some surprising things one can see even in the heart of the city. If you're in the right place at the right time you could see hundreds of rose-ringed parakeets heading back to their roost, big flocks of racing pigeons whizzing northwards, peregrines hitting warp speed a thousand feet above the rooftops (have to be a bit lucky for that). Big city birding will never have the same atmosphere as the more untouched places but I'm grateful for what I can see, have seen and hope still to see here.

This is from the one day last weekend it wasn't rained out. We're now having a lot of low cloud/mist, not even an alpha is much use when it's like that!

In position just in time for the sunrise. The sun itself isn't visible, obscured by the low cloud that makes the grey city even greyer, but visibility below the cloud is good.

It always amazes me how they can do that. I'd checked all the positions I'd expect to find them upon arrival minutes earlier and found nothing in sight. Now there he is, having materialized on his favourite perch seemingly out of nowhere. Or is it her instead of him? Not having been here for some time thanks to the inclement weather, I can't be 100% sure which of the pair it is, but it seems bigger than the tiercel ought to at this distance.

Five minutes later two pigeons speed by. They're the first ones I've seen, but most likely there will be others striking out lower down, outside my field of view. My bird had been looking quite keen, but ignores them. A minute later he's off. As he launches off his perch his wings flick out, pumping hard as they drive him downward. They're broader than I expect the tiercel's to be, which, added to my initial impression of larger size, make me suspect it's the female, come off her clutch to take advantage of this most productive time. She disappears below the rooftops - frustrating, but part of the game. I try to anticipate where she might be heading and at what speed, but see nothing. Everything is still and quiet. Now I'm thinking she might have been successful and is heading home. Start glassing in the opposite direction but to no avail. It's as though she has simply disappeared.

A minute later there she is, back on the same perch, as though by magic. Once again, she appears quite keen initially, and I think she will fly again but she gradually becomes more composed. I know, although I cannot see them, that pigeons will be flying by below, some in fours or fives, others in flocks, all passing under her eye, alert for the weak or the unwary...

The area is slowly brightening, but still very overcast. I've tried a fair few binoculars from this position from 7x35 extra wide to 10x40. Recently I've been relying on the little former alpha, which, I must say, does the job extremely well: lightweight, so I can hold it to my eyes for however long it takes for the bird I'm watching to fly; a very good field of view that lets me follow the action; and very bright. A binocular can't have too much brightness for these grey English skies.

Eight minutes later. She's off again. As I see her leaving her perch I hope she'll stay in sight - no such luck. She drops below the rooftops within seconds, the same disappearing act. But this time I can see pigeons flying out in a loose flock, and switch over to them. I go from the lead birds to those following behind and suddenly there she is, a dark shape arrowing up from below the rooftops into the last three or four tail-enders. Her stealth and speed have probably enabled her to achieve complete surprise for she flies straight into the bird she has selected, connects solidly and, as quickly as it takes to read it, delivers the killing blow in the air and starts heading home. Seconds later she disappears behind the building. Everything is once more silent and still. It's just another routine hunt for her, but a dramatic and exhilerating spectacle for me, the highlight of my weekend and indeed the entire week.


You could say I'm looking forward to the weekend!
 
Weather switch. Earlier in the week upper 70s and lots of sun. Today rain and snow mixed and finally edged above 40 degrees later in the day. Short walk but nice because I stayed near town but no one was out but me and the dogs. Buddy is my white chihuahua/Italian Greyhound mix and the cold air and snow falling really turned him on. When he runs flat out it's like watching a snowshoe rabbit with his long back legs and feet almost reaching up past his front feet. It's hilarious.

Not too much bird activity but really some pretty ones. Ruby Crowned Kinglets and Yellow Rumped Warbler and one lone Western Bluebird along with the usual Juncos, Ravens, and Buzzards. Again it was the Kowa Genesis 8x33 in hand for the action.
 
Pretty neat story Patudo! I can see why you were "riveted" to your seat in anticipation! I've never seen that dramatic a hunt myself, but I love to watch them just fly around my neighborhood at times, either in chase, or being pursued by crows. When they disappear between buildings or behind them, you really don't know where to look, but you hope you will catch another glimpse and reconnect with them. They are amazingly nimble flying aces! Thanks for your story!
 
Patty and I got out mid-morning on a warm, spring day to Redwood Regional Park. There are a few small canyons on the east side of the Oakland hills with second/third growth Redwood stands that follow the drainages. These canyons were originally logged off during the 1849 Gold Rush, the trees hauled away by oxen, milled, and used to build the cities over the hill and across the bay. We parked at the entrance on the main road, and walked up along the creek, into the redwoods. We could hear Jays squawking, and flycatchers whistling, but the first bird we saw was a small Brown Creeper that fluttered onto a skinny tree trunk and began it's rapid ascent up the underside. It switched branches and stayed very close to us, which was a treat. I was using a pair of 7x42 Ultravid BR's, which have generally been my kitchen bins, for checking out birds in the yard when I'm up early in the morning. I wanted to try them on a regular outing and see how I felt about them in that context. So far, so good. Rich colors, and a sharp view, though the focuser is a little sticky throughout its range.

Other birds were a Downy Woodpecker, and a whole lot of Wilson's Warblers. The Wilson's is a small, yellow green bird, with a black beret of sorts. I'd not really seen so many before, and so active, but they were 'common' today. We heard some loud splashing in the creek, and worked our way through a few blackberry vines to peer down. I thought we'd see a river otter, but instead it was a large, speckled, trout, nosing around, perhaps digging a hole for its eggs. Up the trail we went, listening to wrens buzzing and singing, and managing to spot a few more birds. We crossed the creek, and walked down through the small meadows and gravel parking lots back to the car. As a birding day, nothing spectacular, but a really nice mid-morning walk in a park.

One thing that happened back at the car made an impression on me. I had removed my camera, stowed the binoculars, when I noticed some bird action in a tree across the creek. I pulled out my 8x42 Nikon MHG's that I had left in the car, in favor of the Ultravids, and was surprised how the Nikons snapped into focus, and the field seemed more encompassing. It was an immediate visceral impression of something that I can only describe as 'better', but can't pinpoint the precise reason(s). Was it going from 7x to 8x? Was it the overall familiarity of going back to the regular bin? Was it a slightly larger image circle against my glasses? I can't wholly quantify it, but that is the sort of experience that I can only get through taking different bins out in the field and using them.

-Bill
 

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Very nice story Bill. And it reminded me of the time a couple of years ago that we crept down off a crag in the extreme west of Scotland over which a brook spilled onto the sea shore, hoping to see a European Otter in a small sea channel nearby, when we heard a splashing in the brook behind us. We clambered up the wee crag again and over a fence to have a closer look in the tiny brook and there, in the final still-water pool before the water cascaded over the rocks to the shore below, was a perfect Brown Trout and not a fingerling either. It was about 8" long so big for that brook. It was testing the gravel as a place to lay eggs by dipping down its belly and wriggling a little. It was such a beautiful thing that we backed off and left it in peace.

Several years before this, the very same rocky crag had a Palmate Newt sitting there gazing around and since the peninsula on which all of this was taking place is actually the furthest western point of the whole mainland of Great Britain we reckon this little fella was the most westerly British newt, or the British Newt closest to North America.....

At the top of the tiny glen that the brook flows down we once found a Slow Worm, which is a legless lizard, basking in the sunshine, while on the patches of bare ground worn away by the regular passing of the local Blackface Sheep there were emerald-coloured Green Tiger Beetles darting around.

Just over the hill from this glen, overlooking the main bay where Great Northern Divers catch flat-fish during the winter months, is a sheltered tiny pool with bare patches rubbed in the vegetation where Otters dry themselves after washing the salt out of their fur. There are a couple of bright green tufts of grass, fertilised by the Otters spraint, and the last time we visited there was some pale milky poo next to the pool where cubs had done their toilet.

In clefts in the rocks down at sea water level there are orange-coloured Archidoris pseudoargus sea slugs, coloured this way because here they specialise in eating the orange Breadcrumb Sponge. And in sheltered places in the sea shallows between the tangles of boulders and skerries there are usually shoals of Sandeels that will come and investigate your rubber boots if you stand really still for about 5 minutes. They twist and turn like a flock of birds and as they do the light glances off them, flashing at you. If you startle them they dart down and bury themselves in the sand in the twinkling of an eye.

Meanwhile Otters regularly make their way around the headland and into the bay, diving into the seaweed tangle to hunt for fish and crabs as they go. They have a constant battle between getting enough food to power their swimming and above all to maintain their body temperature in the sea because they don't have blubber like seals or whales. But the more they swim to find food, the more energy they use. The need to come to shore regularly to warm up so they usually do this when they have caught a bigger fish and this bigger meal pays back the energy used in coming to shore then swimming back out to the foraging site.

This is wonderful site on the west of Scotland and we will be there in just a few weeks time.

Lee
 
I love your stories guys. I grew up fishing and it's been one of the really big passions of my life. I've fed myself many a day on what I have gotten living a hunter gatherer lifestyle in the backcountry. I've sought out the brook, brown, rainbow, cutthroat, dolly varden, and others with a backpack all over the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone and Michigan where I grew up. Those were all the best days for me and I was a good fisherman but my favorite thing was just to see them before they saw me and just watch them. Once in a desert canyon in Eastern Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_Creek_Mountains I watched a bull or gopher snake take a fairly large cutthroat, 10 in. maybe, fight it to the bank and slowly start to devour it. I was in the middle of nowhere which is about my favorite place on earth. Thanks for reminding me of all this guys.

Today I spent the day with my friend Donna in her backyard by the creek. We were testing out her new Zeiss Victory 8x42 binocular and comparing it to my Nikon EII 8x30. It was very relaxed and we worked hard looking towards the late afternoon sun in some very high branched out trees for a lot of very small very active birds. Mostly bush tits, and yellow rumped warblers. Both bins have very large Fov so it was hard for anything to elude us. We sat mostly on an upper rough sawn bench from one of the big trees that had to come down due to a mushroom that attacked it. Yeah weird but that's the story I was told. We were looking down on the creek from above. That tree made good benches all through her yard along the creek. So from the upper bench we got great view of the water dancing down the creek in small rapids with lots of bubbly rushing water to watch in the sunlight.

Donna had somewhat immobilized herself by the day before dropping the Zeiss, trying to catch it and falling backward and fracturing her left hand. What a bummer with spring coming on. All her fun activities will be modified or left undone until she heals. We will go birding however. But she's got two huge dogs to walk and run each day. I had all four out with me yesterday on leash downtown. I am a good dog trainer and I've trained all those dogs. We walked along just like we did it every day with no tangles or issues even when other people's dogs couldn't keep it together and interrupted our calm venture. Yet I hadn't walked all four together in much more than half a year. Great dogs all and soon I hope to show you pictures of the whole crew.

That was about the extent of the day. I'm going to try and help her out during this trying period. Fortunately she can hire lots of help to meet almost all her needs and then with my help all will go fairly well I'm sure.

It was a very nice break for me in not hiking but just sitting still and looking and talking about the quality of what I consider two of the best optics on the market. The Swarovski 8x50B I had sold her will now get a rest as these Zeiss take over but there are two owls nesting there and they come out at dark so the Swarovskis take over then. They are excellent right into the night and predawn times. Sometimes aperture helps a lot.
 
BC

Your story of the snake eating the fish reminded me of this pic I took in France last year: its a Water Snake swallowing a fish whose tail is still just visible.
Notice how the highlights on the surface ripples of the water are matched by the stripes on the snake. When these critters get in the water and stay still they are tricky to spot.
Lee
 

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Yeah that's a beautiful shot. Lots going on when you really immerse yourself. It always took me several days out from the city for that to really begin to happen for me. To quit thinking about my life and start just observing what was happening around me. The day that happened was usually the beginning of the really fun and remarkable parts of my walkabout. I found hundreds of arrow points that way. I'd become immersed in what was around me and they'd shout out to me, sometimes only by a glint of reflected sunlight. In my earlier life I'd looked for years and years and never saw one arrowpoint. Of course it had helped and maybe was essential that I had learned to make them myself in my abo training first. My unconscious got attuned to them being in my environment.
 
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Donna had somewhat immobilized herself by the day before dropping the Zeiss, trying to catch it and falling backward and fracturing her left hand.

Nothing, nothing makes me feel stupider than doing things like this. It's exactly the same every time, and not just a matter of failure to learn from experience. It's the perfect illustration of how out of touch we routinely are, so not present to what's really going on around us that we can't react appropriately in time. (Presence does seem to be the theme of this thread...)
 
Yeah that's a beautiful shot. Lots going on when you really immerse yourself. It always took me several days out from the city for that to really begin to happen for me. To quit thinking about my life and start just observing what was happening around me. The day that happened was usually the beginning of the really fun and remarkable parts of my walkabout. I found hundreds of arrow points that way. I'd become immersed in what was around me and they'd shout out to me, sometimes only by a glint of reflected sunlight. In my earlier life I'd looked for years and years and never saw one arrowpoint. Of course it had helped and maybe was essential that I had learned to make them myself in my abo training first. My unconscious got attuned to them being in my environment.

Heh, BC, that's what got me out into the wilds again some years back now! I've found some tools, but so far, not one arrow point! The last one I found was in a plowed cornfield, when I was a teen while trapsing about in nature, either out hunting small game or just taking in the solitude.

I am still able to go to that same field, and it's still farmed too! I only skirt the field when I'm going from one place there-from the woods to other fields nearby, now armed with binoculars. I don't know who owns it, or I would ask permission to hunt for the arrowheads there, though I don't know how many are still around. I have a small collection now, but most of mine came from flea markets, and online. Of course, the stone artifacts I've found are more meaningful to me. It still amazes me that many of these stone tools and points can be as old as 10,000 years or so, and down to more recent, only a few hundred years old. Facinating though, and the workmanship on some are hard to be believed.

In one of the higher fields there, I saw a Red Fox not long ago, and it was great to see him trotting along a field's edge, proving that we still need open space for them too, not just us!

Yeah, nice photos, Bill and Lee! This has to be my favorite thread here! Thank you John (BC)!
 
I like this thread also.

I had heard that back east the plowed field was prime hunting ground. Also wherever they were digging out new roads. Out here just head for the uninhabited regions of the Great Basin and it's a gold mine for artifacts. I've been inside Catlow Cave where they found those woven moccasins or sandals that were over 1300 years old. I found one arrow point that is dated to around 4000 bc and was used to hunt mammoth. Most are what are called modern points however that were made around the time the Spanish arrived till the last free indian roamed. I usually left the points where I found them but have a few from private land and I've also made many styled on what I found.
 
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