For sure it is possible to have enjoyable and educational wildlife observing with most binoculars whether they have large fields of view or not, nor do they have to be the most expensive top-of-the-line models, and I am happy to note that you 'rarely' wish for more fov than your ELs. Nevertheless bigger fields of view do make many viewing situations easier. On a historical note, I am sure our friend Gijs van Ginkel would confirm that super-large fov is not a recent phenomenon and goes back many decades to the days when porros were the only choice.Well Lee, as you should know from our previous copious personal emails, thats not true. That is exactly the kind of birding I do every day Im out. I birded 3 days a week this years migration (Sept to April), all of it over large tracts of open water. San Francisco Bay, I suspect qualifies, as one example, you could envision. As with glare that I dont see either, I rarely wish for more FOV in my EL 1042s. I have no problem tracking fast moving ducks, geese and raptors out there or zooming in on the occasional Anna's flitting about in bushes a few feet away. In what some may see as my not so humble experience, if folks would stop shopping for binos, comparing this one with that one, and just go use them... hard, these things become doable.
Lee