[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Ducks and new binocs!!!



Howdy,

Joe accidently dropped our Spacemaster scope as he was packing it in the
car during a CBC field trip in Nags Head (I spelled it right this time
Harry!). Now the lens is messed up. He's been trying to talk me into
upgrading our scope for over a year, so now he had the perfect excuse!
We had the great opportunity to try out scopes with so many birders
around. Seemed like a lot of birders had Leica and Swarovski. This is
not a good time of the year to be without a scope (loons and ducks!), so
we looked at scopes in Cynthia's Wildbird Store in Chapel Hill. We
decided on the Swarovski AT-80 and tested it out for the first time
Sunday. WOW!!! The zoom lens is great!! Ruddy Ducks are even more
adorable when you can see them more clearly!! We were scoping the ponds
on Aviation Parkway, between I-540 and Airport Rd in Raleigh. I
estimated around 60 Ruddy Ducks, 80 Canvasbacks, over 200 Ring-necked
Ducks, and only 2 Bufflehead. No ducks at Lake Crabtree--only coots,
Ring-billed Gulls, and Pied-billed Grebes.

A Hermit Thrush visited our birdbath today. They have a sweet face. Pine
Warblers have continued to sing during the recent cold weather.

Looking forward to using our new scope again this weekend! Happy
birding!

Karen Bearden
Raleigh
chickadeebirders@earthlink.net