bird watching – Your Bird Feeder

Great Christmas Gifts For The Bird Watcher On Your List

Bird Watching Comments Off

Nov 192012

Are you hunting a Christmas present for that hard-to-buy-for person? Here are a few great gift ideas for either the casual backyard bird watcher or the avid birdwatcher on your list.

For the casual backyard birders there are feeders, binoculars, bird seed, bird seed wreaths and ornaments, decorative banners with bird themes. And, for those avid birdwatchers there are binoculars, birding scopes, cameras and all kinds of accessories. A membership in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or your local Audubon Society are other neat Christmas gifts that last all year for the bird watcher.

A pair of binoculars makes a wonderful gift. They will give that special person on your Christmas list hours and hours of entertainment watching birds. Binoculars can start anywhere from under $30 into the thousands of dollars. The choice and price of the binoculars will depend on how and under what conditions the bird watcher will be using the binoculars. For tips on choosing the right binoculars visit: Easy Steps to Choosing the Right Bird Watching Binoculars. An avid birdwatcher may even want a field scope and tripod.

A new bird feeder is a wonderful present for both the birdwatcher as well as the birds. Winter feeding is important for the birds, too. There are many different new-fangled bird feeders that attract different birds to the yard. Your present will provide lots of enjoyment while watching birds coming to the new feeder.

There are bird seed ornaments, gadgets and many decorations which make cute presents. And, a birder will never turn away a big bag of black oil sunflower seeds.

Cameras make a nice and useful Christmas present. Just like binoculars, the type of camera needed is determined by how and where the birdwatcher uses the camera. The casual backyard birdwatcher may only want a minimal zoom lens and everything automatic on the camera. While the avid birder will want a camera that has all the bells and whistles on it.

There are so many neat, fun and useful presents that can be given to the birdwatchers on your list. I’m sure they will love the present, get much joy out of it and say, “This is just what I wanted”.

Tips For Bird Watching

Bird Watching Comments Off

Feb 142012

Bird Watching

Bird watching is one of the fastest growing outdoor recreational activities. If you are one of those who is interested in this activity, here are some great tips that will make your experience extra pleasant.

Identifying a bird can be challenging for a new bird watcher. Birds are very active and extremely fast moving beings. When you spot a bird you need to gather as many details about that bird as possible on the first spotting. You usually only have a short period of time to gather the facts. The following are some tips that experienced bird watchers do to maximize the short and precious time for viewing a bird.

Once a bird is spotted, immediately take in the color, the approximate size and shape and other markings. When bird watching observe the overall appearance of the bird. Be conscious of details pertaining to the head and the bill area. After the head and the bill, look at the bird’s body, wings, legs and tail. Watch its movements and its feeding habits if the opportunity is there. You can also start sketching or write down the things that have caught your eye. Make the most out of the time that the bird is in front of you.

Bird watching is just as much an auditory activity as a visual activity. Many times birds are best identified by their vocalization. Listening to a bird’s vocalization is simple but easy to forget, too. When identifying a certain song of a bird, notice the movement of the bill. This confirms that the song is indeed coming from that specific bird. Get into the habit of listening for birds while spotting birds. Their song is a sure way to make a clear identification of different species of birds. Get used to hearing the tunes that specific birds sing.

It is very important to immediately write down all the things that you have noticed about the bird. The notes will be extremely helpful when you later sit down with a field guide to confirm the bird species. These tips for quickly identifying birds will make the new recreational activity much more fun and enjoyable.

Great Gifts For Bird Watchers

Bird Watching Comments Off

Feb 082012

In the preceding article we featured bird watching binoculars and scopes as great gifts for bird watchers. We are now going to look at what other items would be perfect for a bird watcher. There are many things a bird watcher uses while hiking and watching birds.

Consider giving the bird watcher a waterproof field jacket or pocket vest. Field jackets and vests comes with many pockets that birders need for carrying items on their adventures. They can fill them with bird watching binoculars, large field guides, pen and notebook, phone, snacks, water bottles and who knows what else. The coat and vest features padded shoulders which helps when carrying their scope and tripod. The fabric in the jacket and vest should be of a breathable material.

Or how about giving them a field hat for a gift? This type of hat protects the bird watcher from the sun and glare while in the field and should be lightweight. Look for one that has a mesh crown for ventilation and can easily be folded and packed flat when traveling.

A binocular harness is literally a comforting present. The harness takes the pressure and weight of carrying binoculars from around the neck and distributes it evenly through the shoulders and back. A binocular harness makes hiking and bird watching much more enjoyable.

A backpack is another present that can be considered for your birder. Many bird watchers camp out for days while on bird watching trips. They take food, water and many other valuable items with them when camping out and a backpack or field bag would be a great gift. The bags have specific compartments for binoculars, field guides and other needed items.

Field Guide To The Birds of North America

Finally, bird watching books and journals are super bird watching gifts. Look for books that help with easy identification of birds. Journals are valuable to birders to keep track of the birds they spot. They even have software that can be purchased and installed on a phone instead of carrying books.

These are great gifts that any bird watcher would just love and appreciate. So check out the gifts that can be purchased for bird watching. They are going to be the best looking and best prepared birder out there!

Bird Watching Binoculars Make A Great Gift

Bird Watching Binoculars Comments Off

Feb 022012

NIKON 7294 Monarch 5 8×42 Binoculars

Looking for a gift for your favorite bird watcher? What does a bird watcher bring along when he or she is out there in the woods? Check out these great gifts that your bird watching enthusiast would love.

A good pair of binoculars is one of the most valuable items to have when you go bird watching. There are many companies that carry binoculars. Nikon, Bushnell, Swarovski, Zeiss and Pentax are a few of the great companies that handle bird watching binoculars and scopes. There is a pair of binoculars for any budget. Beside the cost of the binoculars and scopes know how the bird watcher will be using them.

The most popular pair of bird watching binoculars is the 8×35 or 8×42. The numeral 8 signifies the number of times the bird will be enlarged when you look through the binoculars. The 35 or 42 digit is the field of view. This is important because it allows the user to follow the bird in their field of view when the bird decides to take off.

Nikon 13-30×50 Fieldscope ED 50 #8320

Should the bird watcher that you are buying a gift for already have binoculars you may pick them up a scope instead. Scopes, straight or angled, are wonderful to take out into the woods or just use them in the backyard for birding.

Remember when you look for a scope or binoculars they have to be waterproof. Bird watchers are out in all weather conditions and have to have equipment that works effectively.

A gift of bird watching binoculars or scope for a bird watcher would give them many, many hours of fun and enjoyment.

In the next post we’ll take a look at some other gifts that would be very valuable to bird watchers. We’ll check out the proper clothing, books and journals that are great gifts.

The Right Pair Of Binoculars For Bird Watching

Bird Watching Binoculars 5 Responses »

Jun 242011

A good pair of binoculars is one of the most important tools for bird watching. Binoculars allows close up views of birds in their natural habitat. The right binoculars makes it easy to see birds nesting, feeding and flying in the distance.

The first thing to look for in a new pair of binoculars is a good quality lens. Find a binocular that shows no signs of image distortion or color changes when viewing objects. A change in color through the binoculars would make identifying birds a much more difficult process.

The next feature to consider is the magnification and the size of the lens. Many bird watchers prefer the 7×35, 7×42 or 8×42 binocular; the lens allows sufficient light into the optics and are lightweight while hiking and bird watching. The 7x means that you are seeing your object 7 times closer than with the naked eye. An 8x or 10x magnification brings images closer, but the drawback to the 8x or 10x is that they are a heavier binocular to be lugging around to watch birds. The 35, 40, 42, 50 numbers that follows the magnification is the diameter of the lens in millimeters. The larger the diameter of the lens the sharper and brighter the object. Don’t forget the weight that comes along with the larger lens, too.

The binoculars’ exit pupil is a guide to the image brightness. For watching birds in the day a 3 or 5 exit pupil is fine. An exit pupil around 7 is used in low light situations like for astronomy. To figure out the exit pupil just divide the magnification into the diameter of the lens (ie. 7×35 would be a 5 exit pupil).

One more thing to consider when finding the right binoculars for bird watching, though not the last thing to consider, is the ease of the central focus mechanism. Look for a pair of binoculars that has the center focus wheel and make sure that the wheel turns easily and smoothly.

These are some of the main factors to keep in mind when you are out looking for the right binoculars for bird watching. The right binoculars will make your adventure so much more fun.

Nikon Monarch 5 Binoculars

Your Bird Feeder recommends the Nikon 7294 Monarch III 8×42 Binocular. The Monarch 7294 features a sharper and brighter image. The low-light performance of the Nikon Monarch has been drastically improved. The weight of these binoculars and the focusing mechanism are excellent for bird watching. Take a look at the Nikon Monarch ATB Binoculars here.

UPDATE: Nikon has changed the name of the Nikon Monarch ATB III to Nikon Monarch 5

Older Entries