> But I was musing about how birding and optics have changed. But now > I am thinking maybe I should go back bare basics. Just use good old > eyes and go closer to see birds! Or look for those birds that are > visible! Do we really need to spend so much of money to see birds > that far away? Anyway I thought I will share this with others and > see what others think.
Hi Meena, If your competitive urges can be squelched, and you're not feeling left out of the high-definition telescopic fun, you can certainly go back to birding without top optics. It should offer some interesting stalking challenges (though you wouldn't practice at Knox-Marcellus), and I'm sure you could approach the whole thing as a kind of special training. I've heard that at a certain point in Ski Rescue training they take away your poles, and you're sent out day after day to traverse extremely rugged terrain with just the skis (and a pack on your back, of course). -Geo On Aug 29, 2010, at 11:38 AM, Meena Haribal wrote: > Hi all, > > Today morning from 5 to 5.40 am I listened to migrant birds and > recorded some of the calls. Based on the calls and the > spectrogram, there were several groups of VEERIES that flew > overhead. There were also some ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS and at least > one WOOD THRUSH. I also heard something like clicking of bills, > could have been a cuckoo, but did chance to record so cannot confirm. > > Local Great Horned Owl between 5.10 5.20 hooted several times. > There at least six species of night insects all occupied different > frequency levels in the spectrogram. In one species, two or three > insects were calling and initially one would start and then second > would join in and after few seconds the sounds were matched and > sang as one insect but with increased volume! When I was watching > the spectrogram at real time I could see how the frequencies joined > and separated in real time. > > About 17 years ago I bought Ziess 10x42 (before that I used Nikon > 7X25 and previous to that an 8X32 which had double image, though my > brain after some days of use corrected them to a single image) and > went to Stewart park hoping that I would be able to see all the > birds now better from any distance. Scope was not known to people > in India then. I watched the lake and found no birds. Then Kevin > McGowan drove in and set up his scope and declared he seeing all > three species of Scoters. I was little disappointed that my > binoculars were no good to see that far. He let me peek through his > scope and I did see all three species of Scoters. Then my goal was > to get a scope, which I managed to get one and when I spent evening > at May’s point watching shore birds, I used to be frustrated with > distant birds that other people could pick up with their scope. > > Yesterday birds were something like 400 m to 1000 m away from > observation site (I actually checked using google distance > calculator) and everyone is watching Phalaropes, Buff Breasted > Sandpiper and I barely could see them in my scope. Again Kevin > McGowan mentioned, that with his old scope, which was similar to my > current he could not see birds so well, but with current Swaroski > he can see things much better. Oh well, but = since last two years > I have been thinking I need to get better optics, but recently they > seem to have become so very expensive and beyond my reach. I have > been digging in my yard to see if someone has buried any treasure, > but so far have found none L > > But I was musing about how birding and optics have changed. But now > I am thinking maybe I should go back bare basics. Just use good old > eyes and go closer to see birds! Or look for those birds that are > visible! Do we really need to spend so much of money to see birds > that far away? Anyway I thought I will share this with others and > see what others think. > > Yesterday, on the way back from an errand in Rochester at the > junction of 318 and 414, I saw a huge flock of BROWN-HEAED > COWBIRDS. There may have been more than 1000+ birds and flock was > almost pure cowbirds only. > > Also this did not make it to Cayugabirds. To add to Dave Nutter’s > list of shorebirds at Knox Marcellus, later in the evening while > searching for Buff-Breasted, Mike Tetlow found a Golden Plover from > East Road. Viewing was much better from East Road at this time, I > could actually see RED-NECKED PHALAROPES as red-necked and not just > phalaropes, with the same scope. There were also 7 SANDHILL CRANES > in the marsh. > > Meena > > > Meena Haribal > Ithaca NY > http://haribal.org/ > http://picasaweb.google.com/ithmoths > http://picasaweb.google.com/mharibal > http://www.flickr.com/photos/91426...@n00/ > Geo Kloppel Bowmaker & Restorer 227 Tupper Road Spencer NY 14883 607 564 7026 g...@cornell.edu geoklop...@gmail.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
