What did you see in your binoculars today? (7 Viewers)

[PatR]

As days go its a bit of a bugger, sunshine one minute and horizontal rain the next. Enough to send a sane man inside.....so I got soaked.

But in between the showers a lovely Common Buzzard and the Jay who pops in for a bit of brekkie in the morning and then poses on the Horse Chestnut tree in the field below.

Watched with my beloveds Retrovid 7x35's (God I love them) and taken with a FujiFilm X-H2s and the 150-600mm lens.

 

[Pinewood]

Hello,

Ten power is a magnitude which gave me a lot of trouble. I tried a Zeiss Dialyt 10x40BGAT but it did not agree with me as I could not keep a steady image. The Leica 10x50BN was a handful, even less satisfactory than the Dialyt. Perhaps nineteen years ago, I tried the Zeiss 10x32 FL, which works for me. I keep it close to horizontal, steady it with a deep breath or use a support. When I used it with a 7x42, I had a very useful combination. Alas, I do not care to carry two glasses any more.
Today, I used the 10x32 FL alone. I did not find any more birds than with my naked eye, but it was useful for identification of a bird in shadow. Today's birds were:
Northern shovel(l)lers,
mallards,
hooded mergansers,
a ring billed gull,
a hairy woodpecker, my first in a long time,
tufted titmice,
black capped chickadees,
blue jays,
white breast nuthatch,
fox sparrows,
white throat sparrows,
An American robin, and
a female Northern cardinal.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Thotmosis]

Hello,

Ten power is a magnitude which gave me a lot of trouble. I tried a Zeiss Dialyt 10x40BGAT but it did not agree with me as I could not keep a steady image. The Leica 10x50BN was a handful, even less satisfactory than the Dialyt. Perhaps nineteen years ago, I tried the Zeiss 10x32 FL, which works for me. I keep it close to horizontal, steady it with a deep breath or use a support. When I used it with a 7x42, I had a very useful combination. Alas, I do not care to carry two glasses any more.
Today, I used the 10x32 FL alone. I did not find any more birds than with my naked eye, but it was useful for identification of a bird in shadow. Today's birds were:
Northern shovel(l)lers,
mallards,
hooded mergansers,
a ring billed gull,
a hairy woodpecker, my first in a long time,
tufted titmice,
black capped chickadees,
blue jays,
white breast nuthatch,
fox sparrows,
white throat sparrows,
An American robin, and
a female Northern cardinal.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

View attachment 1617075

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through ...

Nice photo mr. Pinewood!

Cheers from The Netherlands

 

[Pinewood]

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through ...

Nice photo mr. Pinewood!

Cheers from The Netherlands

Hello Thotmosis,

The photo's background in Central Park; the view is from the Belvedere Castle. The body of water is Turtle Pond, formerly Belvedere Lake, while the buildings on Fifth Avenue are in the background. The day of the photo, hooded mergansers, mallards and northern shovellers were on the Pond, very typical for December.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Maljunulo]

I think male Hooded Mergansers are amusing, as they paddle around displaying and folding their “hood”.

I especially like the way they bob up, like a cork, from a dive.

I’ve only ever seen one pair of Northern Shovelers, who were evidently just migrating through.

 

[Thotmosis]

Hello Thotmosis,

The photo's background in Central Park; the view is from the Belvedere Castle. The body of water is Turtle Pond, formerly Belvedere Lake, while the buildings on Fifth Avenue are in the background. The day of the photo, hooded mergansers, mallards and northern shovellers were on the Pond, very typical for December.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

Beautiful view Arthur!

 

[Thotmosis]

This evening i watched a beautifull (almost full) moon and Jupiter with 4 moons . Me and my wife and used two Zeiss 15x60 (B) GAT. Breathtaking.

EDIT: some pictures added

 

[GrampaTom]

Richard says he's tired of lists and prefers photos. Here's a couple for you then. Been on the lookout for Woody the Woodpecker almost 7 years since heard them next door to friends woodlot in Coos Bay. Family in Seattle lives at end of a Cul de Sac that abuts a green space, been reporting these guys in back, from time to time. Today was my day! Close enough for Iphone.

 

[rodneyAB]

@GrampaTom good view. I caught a glimpse of one about 28 years ago in the tall forest on the slope of Mt. Wittenberg while hiking with a buddy on Sky Trail in Point Reyes National Seashore. I only saw it due to my buddy excitedly saying "oh wow Pileated Woodpecker!" Brief sighting...it flew in from behind us to one tree and quick to another tree, and then gone from sight.

 

[Belumat]

This afternoon, during a short walk around the house in addition to the usual birds, I saw a black woodpecker, two bullfinches, male and female, and an adult female goshawk. Opticron aurora 8x42

 

[jafritten]

I spent a few days in North Germany. I had my Swaros and my Retrovids with me. (I happened across a very good example of those Retrovids recently and couldn't resist... My first unit of these had a funky focusser and a loose diopter- Leica said everything was fine but I was not convinced.)
Ardea cinerea, quite a character. Seen through Swaro EL 8.5x42 on a grim day.


The next day. This is what I saw in my 7x35 Leicas.
Two cranes (grus grus) that were very tolerant of my presence. One has a red beak - why?

Three greylag geese. How can they fly like that? They can't - I think the impression is brought about by telecompression.


Two white swans (cygnus olor) on the wing.

 

[Belumat]

Yesterday morning I went for a little walk on the mountain above my house. Few birds but nice wallcreeper.

 

[fazalmajid]

On my NL Pure 8x32, a female eurasian blackcap in my backyard, next to a great tit. The great tit went for the feeder, the blackcap didn't.
Also many eurasian starlings squabbling for the suet pellet feeder, great tits darting in for the seed feeder, a shy robin, a sparrow, a rose-ringed parakeet, a magpie, wood doves and a eurasian blackbird.

 

[Belumat]

This morning I went out very early for some appointments but they were cancelled. I therefore took the opportunity to check a rocky area near my office. I saw an eagle owl, they are nesting here, and three wolves crossed my path as I was about to reach the rock face. I had never seen the owl so well. I arrived at the office with a smile.

 

[Jinac]

Couple weeks ago, I've seen five or six night raptor fly away from my pine. Next days I've seen two Long-eared Owl on this pine and I could observe them during long minutes at just 5-6m of distance from them with my 16x IS...what's a big fascinating red eyes...
But my long observation have disturbed the beauties and they flight away and came back only on the night to hunt

 

[tenex]

Recently we were out looking for raptors on a breezy winter's day when a Golden Eagle flew into view, apparently headed for one of a few lone trees at middle distance in the bare landscape. Then it simply stopped in place midair, rotating through something like a slow somersault while held aloft by the breeze, wings held in toward and around itself, after which it flew on up to the top of the tree, hung motionless again, and settled lightly onto a perch. I've never seen quite that before, wish we had video, and might not even have been sure what happened had our 15x56 SLC and 12x50 UV not given us a front-row seat. At such times I'm tempted to wonder whether it might even have been aware of and performing for us.

 

[Thotmosis]

My new friend came to say hello today when i was watching birds with my Leica Trinovid BN 10x32.

 

[Maljunulo]

Those have to be among the world’s oddest feet.

 

[Thotmosis]

Those have to be among the world’s oddest feet.

I thought the same but didn’t tell him, its a sensitive bird.

 

[rran6136]

Sea eagle through NL 12s. It was hanging in the air near some hang-gliders. I like to imagine it saw them as big birds hovering in the air and thought that the hang-gliders spotted some delicious morsel. Also a new holland honey eater was in attendance in nearby scrub bushes, minding its own business.