I went birding to a local marsh this weekend and happened to come across another birder who had just setup his spotting scope. We introduced ourselves and chatted about the morning's activity. As luck would have it, Stan was out doing a breeding bird survey and was about to begin his route, so he invited me along. How could I refuse? To have my own guide on this rather large tract of marsh and prairie would be a treat.
We spent the next couple of hours on the survey and it didn't take me long to become impressed with Stan's skills as a birder. He was also very complimentary about my skills. We then talked a bit about equipment and I was not surprised to see he carried some old and quite worn, low end Bushnell binoculars as well as an old Bushnell Spacemaster. Compared to my Leica binocular and Kowa ED spotting scope, his stuff looked positively shabby. However, there was no denying Stan's skills.
I've encountered this minimalist approach to equipment with a few other top-notch birders. One of my favorite Ornithology professors in college, for instance, swore by his old Tasco binoculars and he was an excellent birder. The moral of the story here is to never judge a birder by his equipment. Fancy and expensive equipment is no substitute for experience and motivation. Take this to heart if you are on a budget and have been thinking of getting into birding.
