Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
A Themoreyouscopebirds,thefasteryou'llbe.Ifyouuseazoomeyepiece,alwaysstart
outatthelowestmagnificationwhileyouscan;onceyou'vefoundthebirdyoucanzoom
in.
As with learning to use binoculars, practice on distant trees and other objects first.
When I bought my first spotting scope, I started a list of all the birds I saw through it. It
was slow going the first couple of weeks, but with the motivation of a growing list, soon
I could find things in it amazingly fast!
Q When I go to my local birding club's website, I see zillions of photos taken by
birders. I thought photographers needed all kinds of special equipment and to hide
in blinds, but some of these pictures were taken by people on field trips. How can
people take decent photos while keeping up with a field trip group?
A Many camera companies sell “extended zoom” cameras that can zoom in 15× or even
more, with image stabilization so the photos are reasonably sharp. I take one of these
cameras everywhere.
Anotherstrategyfortakingphotoswhilebirdingistoholdasmalldigitalcameraclose
to a spotting scope. To hold the camera steady and at the optimal distance from the optic-
al lens, some optics companies sell special adaptors, and some birders create makeshift
adaptors from such things as cold-medicine measuring cups or the upper part of plastic
vitaminbottles.I'vetakensomeveryhigh-qualityphotosthisway.Takingdigitalpictures
throughaspottingscopeinthiswayiscalled digiscoping .Youcanlearnabouttechniques
and see examples at www.allaboutbirds.org .
Q I see lots of birders using electronic gadgets. What are they doing?
A Birderstryingtokeepupwithrarebirdsightingsintheirareacangetupdatesbymeans
of Internet Listservs, catching up on the latest posts on their iPhones, or through other
devices. Some birding networks send out cell phone text messages when a rare bird is
sighted. A lot of birders nowadays carry iPods, iPhones, or mp3 players with earbuds
or a small speaker. Sometimes they review bird songs while trying to identify birds, and
sometimes they play recordings in the field to try to lure birds in for a closer look; this is
called playback. I've done this a few times, and it can be amazingly effective, but it can
also be disruptive for birds exhausted from migrating or busy with nesting responsibilit-
ies. Playback should never be done to call up hotline rarities that dozens or hundreds of
other birders are trying to find — this kind of constant disruption is suspected of causing
nest failures, making birds fly off to quieter places, and even leading to a bird's death. It
also should never be done in popular birding locations where there are plenty of disrup-
tions anyway.
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