You don’t have to own a spotting scope to bird watch - but it helps, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had non-birders look through my scope and immediately ask, “Where do I get one and how much do they cost?” Having just completed the second of two multi-day shorebird workshops this summer, I can definitely say it is completely possible to find and identify every shorebird species with just binoculars, but not in every situation. Sometimes they’re just too far, and sometimes it’s just nice to get a closer-than-close look.
Scope use is learned, not instinctive. Here are a few tips to help:
A scope that’s not steady is useless - First, make sure you have a good tripod - check one of CMBO’s centers to find the right tripod and head for you. However, steadying the scope goes beyond the tripod. The operator has some responsibility, too.
If there is any sort of wind at all, in often helps to rest a hand on the barrel of the scope, putting slight downward pressure on the scope and tripod to put the whole set-up in firm contact with the earth and to reduce vibrations from the somewhat wobbly tripod head mechanisms that allow you to pan back and forth and up and down. Avoid extending the neck of your tripod if possible, since that makes the unit much less steady.
If it’s very windy, try to position yourself out of the wind, for example in the lee of a building or your car. A much more stable configuration than standing, and one I often adopt for studying birds at length, is to sit on a stool and shorten your tripod to match (see photo 1). The shorter the tripod, the steadier the scope.
Photo 1: Lowering the tripod and viewing from a seated position greatly reduces scope vibration. Note how the author is steadying the scope with his left hand.
When you zoom up, focus becomes critical - I prefer a zoom eyepiece 95% of the time (and get very annoyed with the narrow field and lower light the remaining 5% of the time). A scope at high power has a very “flat” field, meaning that the immediate foreground and background of what you are viewing will be blurry. All this means is that an extra second or two refining the focus will be necessary, especially if you are sharing a scope with someone else, since we all have slightly different eyes. I virtually always scan or find things with my zoom set at 20 power, and then zoom up for the optimum view, which by the way is usually not all the way to 60 power. The exception is when I am working extremely distant flocks, when lower power might let me pan past something interesting. In those situations I’ll scan at 40 or 50 power, with my hand constantly on the focus to fine tune the view.
For less eye fatigue, try leaving your off-eye open - (See photo 2). Most people can do this, some people can’t; it depends on how dominant your dominant eye is. Your dominant eye is the one you automatically use to look through the scope, and when doing so most people can shut off the information coming in through the other eye.
Photo 2: Leaving your off-eye open reduces eye fatigue. It is somewhat easier to do this with an angled scope, since the off-eye has an uninteresting view of the ground.
For Swarovski scope owners only - I love the tethered eyepiece cap feature of Swarovski scopes, since it is a great aid in rainy conditions and helps protect the lens in general. But when the wind is howling, having the swinging cap continually slap you in the face is annoying. The solution is simple: lodge the cap underneath the sight on the right side of the scope (see photo 3).
Photo 3: Tuck the eyepiece cap on Swarovski scopes underneath the sight to keep it from swinging in the wind.
There is more to scoping than this space can cover, so undoubtedly we’ll be re-visiting the matter in future columns. Stay tuned!