fast-moving birds - hard to appreciate features (1 Viewer)

[earlytorise]

I used to be very concerned about getting good views of a bird with my binoculars, even holding off on the use of my camera until I have looked at the bird for long enough, in order to learn about and appreciate its features.

But I have now come to think that sometimes I won't really achieve that if a bird is moving too fast.

Do you agree?

Case in point: I was twitching a Siberian House Martin. Here in Hong Kong, the more common species is Asian House Martin. Notable differences include the size of the white rump patch and the whiteness of the underparts. The depth of the tail fork is also worth noting. However, it was moving so fast that I had a hard time confirming any of these. Most of the time, as I followed it with my binoculars left and right, in and out of my surroundings, it looked like a blur. I barely managed to judge how big the white rump was. (There were no Asian House Martins in the same place, or else one would have done a direct comparison.) Luckily a friend came by with a DSLR in hand. He took pictures which I could then study.

 

[01101001]

Every single time.

 

[Leafbringer]

I know what you mean. With fast flying birds like swallows and some species of parrots, it's hard to get a good look at them. I'm happy whenever I can see a perched swallow, lol.

While I haven't used binoculars, I can imagine the difficulty when following birds like that.

 

[Patudo]

This really comes down to experience and judgement as to which is the more effective ID tool. Some plumage details may be so subtle that photos are needed to determine them. But equally, some birds will be too fast or far to properly capture with a camera (and finding a fast-moving target in some viewfinders can be a lot harder than with binoculars). And you'll never get an impression of the bird's manner of flight, and may get a misleading impression of shape and silhouette, from a camera that freezes movement at 1/2000th of a second or whatever. Learning to track birds in rapid flight with binoculars is also a skill that needs to be acquired. Good kit does help (binoculars that give an immediate and effortless view, the right focus speed to keep track of the bird you are following). But no matter what you've got, things like choosing the right focus point to use the natural accommodation of your eyes most effectively over the distance you are covering take a bit of practice. One thing binoculars unquestionably do better is help you observe action (for instance if a hobby appeared and started hunting those hirundines).

I feel it's best to carefully study all the more common birds, with and without binoculars, in all modes of action (in flight, perched, etc) so you're thoroughly familiar with them - then something different will tend to stand out. I tend to try to have a good look at an unusual bird first before reaching for the camera (if I'm carrying one). So many times the bird flits out of view in the time it takes to get the camera up and seek it out in the viewfinder. But I'm perhaps a bit old school in that regard. There is, no doubt, a group of folks that use the camera as their primary ID tool and do so quite effectively.