A Beginner’s Guide to Buying Binoculars for Birds, Butterflies, and Dragonflies

Three of my teammates on last year's Christmas Bird Count at Apple Valley Lake in Howard, Ohio.

On a recent bird walk, when one of the participants mentioned she would like to buy her first binoculars, it made me think of an article I had inspired and edited for the Greenbelt (Maryland) News Review I contributed fairly regular Nature columns to when I was in Maryland full-time.  I was e-mailing a really good bird watcher, Peter Blank, for an article on how to choose binoculars.

At the time, I had only an old pair of binoculars I shamefully outbid a young boy for at a church auction years ago.  Peter suggested since he had practically written the story for me that he should write the article himself.  He did and it was published.  I was going to link the article but I couldn’t find it online at the News Review (http://greenbeltnewsreview.com/)

So all I can do for now is give the specs of the binoculars I bought and still have as my only binoculars, suggested by Peter for its wide view, which offers beginners a better chance of locating the bird in a tree:  Nikon Monarch, 8X42, 6.3^o

I don’t know what all the numbers mean, certainly not the degrees, but I know at least that 8X42 is excellent, and a beginner’s binoculars should be close to that.  I think you sacrifice magnification as the field gets wider, so a narrower field is suitable for a very experienced birder who can spot birds easily through binoculars and needs more details.

As an eyeglass wearer, I was relieved to find out that my new binoculars would fit my eyes better than my old, because I chose those suited to eyeglass wearers.  Dunkle says:  "Eyeglass wearers should look for a long eye relief of 18-20 mm or more, and retractable or fold-down rubber eyecups...Useful literature on buying binoculars is published by Canon, Eagle Optics, Nikon, and by Christophers of Norman, Oklahoma."   I had found out this information when I bought mine by reading the manufacturer's literature.
 

While I’m on the subject of binoculars, after I began using them to identify butterflies, I learned that there were books called “Butterflies through Binoculars: The East” by Jeffrey Glassberg and “Dragonflies through Binoculars” by Sidney W. Dunkle.

These authors recommend close-focus binoculars that focus between 4 and 8 feet.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the books when I bought mine, or I might have bought one of these, if it would also be good for birds.  It might be because the wider field of view of an 8X is one of the recommendations of both authors.

Glassberg suggests looking for binocular buying tips on the North American Butterfly Association's website: http://www.naba.org/binocs.html  The information there is only two years newer than his 1999 book, but it's a start.

Apparently the advent of close-focus binoculars has sparked new interest in identifying butterflies and dragonflies.  I like the fact that we can identify them without capturing them, recognizing that someone has to capture and even kill them for detailed examination, but not me, as long as I can resist.

So, now the old stereotype of old weirdos in shorts chasing butterflies with nets, will be replaced by the stereotype of old weirdos in shorts watching butterflies with binoculars, just like the old weirdos watching birds!



Golden Eagle Sighting near Apple Valley:



My birding friends and neighbors at Apple Valley have a recent documented sighting of a golden eagle feeding on deer carcasses on a nearby farm, along with 12 bald eagles, on Weber Road, near one of many bald eagle nests in the area.



I hope to use this blog and/or my future website for posting alerts like this for local birders, although I will do it faster than I did this one!  I'd appreciate hearing about bird sightings from local readers so I can let the whole neighborhood know and give local birders a chance to share in the sightings.



Snowy Owls in Ohio:



Jim McCormac's blog reports 141 owls in 48 counties in Ohio.  They've been seen in Knox County and all its adjoining counties, except for Morrow.  A recent owl sighting in Richland took care of that "holdout" county, now it's Morrow's turn!


News Flash:


Jim McCormac will discuss the eight species of owls resident in Ohio at a free webinar on January 15, from noon to 1 p.m.  Register at:  http://obcinet.org/webinar-on-ohios-owls-announced/  The seminar is presented by the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative ( http://obcinet.org/ ).  At the OBCI website you can also lisen to a recording of a previous webinar on Ohio's seven resident woodpecker species.




Links:

Jim McCormac  (Naturalist Jim McCormac also writes a column for The [Columbus, Ohio] Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month, one of my two must reads in the Sunday paper. )

Columbus Dispatch  [John Switzer writes a Nature column every week in the Sunday Columbus Dispatch, my other must read.  He is a model for the Nature columns I write and, like me, he veers off in a lot of different directions, including the Indians of Ohio, etc., while often writing about birds and referencing McCormac.)

 Brown Family Environmental Center, Kenyon College  (This is a great place that serves the campus and surrounding communities, is a model for natural land preservation, and coordinates the Knox County, Ohio, Audubon Christmas Bird Counts.)

Cornell Lab Magazine Reviews Binoculars :  Another reason to join the Cornell Lab--the current issue of their "Living Bird" magazine reviews binoculars.   

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