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OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!Friday, May 28, 2010Have a good Memorial DayMemorial Day is the start of summer for most folks, regardless of what the calendar or science say. Bill and I had planned to go camping, as so many thousands of others will be doing this holiday, but our recent purchase of a home and subsequent relocation will keep us home, packing and making ready for this big change in our lives. Besides, some of our camping gear is already packed, away. Nevertheless, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. No matter what, I will sneak out for some birdwatching, biking and maybe even some photography with the digital cameras or, better yet, my film cameras. After all, this is a traditional holiday and what can be more traditional than an old film camera? The moon will be close to full, so no dark sky work, but I may still sneak a look with the telescopes or astronomy binoculars. Staying at home won’t be as much fun as some camping and some fishing, but it will satisfy my need to be outdoors You see, I learned long, ago, that I must be outdoors, the way a bird must fly or a fish must swim. I am not a homebody, at heart, but a vagabond and a traveler, even if it is something as mundane as wandering the local park or bike trail. In fact, I feel guilty and something akin to a criminal if I spend an entire day, indoors. Not sure how I came to feel this way, but I have to deal with it. See you on the trail. Thursday, May 27, 2010Bird watching, bird feeder watching To say the least, my bird feeder setup is a busy place and it is consistently busy from sunup to sundown. Just about any time, during the day, I can look out my kitchen window and see birds, and, when I want a closerlook,  my Nikon binoculars are always at hand. Not sure what I would do without my feeders and birds to keep me company, during the day and, to be sure, I may even be more addicted to the feeders than the birds. If you are love birdwatching and feeding birds, you understand.
So which birds are my most consistent visitors in terms of steady regular visits, hour by hour, regardless of the season? I don’t have the actual statistics to bake this up, but I’d have to say it wood be the woodpeckers, though my Black-capped Chickadees might be a very close second. One of these two birds seems to be present most anytime I check my feeders as I go about cleaning the house or sit, here, writing at my desk. I know several bird feeder fans who claim that woodpeckers are their favorite group of birds and this constant, steady presence at the feeder might be one reason why.  Of the woodpeckers, I have three species and number one in the most frequent visitor category seems to be the little Downy Woodpecker. Next comes the larger Hairy Woodpecker and then the even larger Red-bellied Woodpecker. At a distance of about fifteen yards from my kitchen window to the feeders, the large Red-bellied just about fills the field of view in my spotting scope with its super wide-angle Televue Nagler 22mm eyepiece. What a sight that birds is in my spotting scope or birding binocular! Even better, woodpeckers are relatively cooperative subjects for my digiscoping, unlike the constantly fidgeting and darting Chickadees. Wednesday, May 26, 2010Drought in WisconsinEvery state has its own set of potential natural dangers. If you live along the Gulf, you have hurricanes. If you live in the plains, there are tornadoes and blizzards. If you live in the southwest, there are deserts and heat. West coast states have earthquakes, mudslides and volcanoes. Most states have at least some poisonous reptiles, spiders and so on. Most folks, of course, accept these potential dangers and go on about their lives, but more than a few people relocated to escape the potential natural disasters in their area. Northern Wisconsin might seem to be a place where you could escape many of these potential natural disasters. Nothing poisonous, up there, tornadoes are rare, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, volcanoes, mudslides or the like. No, nothing quite that sensational, at least at first glance. If you visit the area, though, you can see signs of a very serious problem and that is drought. Lake and stream water levels are way down, courtesy of an eight year drought. Aside from the immediate and very real danger of fire with all that forested land, drought affects the landscape in other ways. Chief among these is that drought changes the composition of the plant community and when you change the plant community, all the animal communities are affected. It’s not all bad, though; we just tend to look at it from our perspective. As with any change, there are winners and losers in the plant and animal communities. In fact, from reports I have read, the drought has been a big plus for some birds, such as the Piping Plover. In central Nebraska, where I lived for many years, this bird was listed as a threatened species. Along the Great Lakes, though, the Piping Plover is listed as the even more critical endangered species. Like most people who are passionate about birding and birdwatching, I am very concerned about the survival of these rare birds. The good news amid all the bad news of this current drought is that more exposed shorelines equals more breeding habitat for this bird and that means the Piping Plover is making a reappearance in a few areas of the Great Lakes that have not seen a Piping Plover in many, many years. In Nebraska, I knew of one nesting location of the Piping Plover that I could view from a discreet and safe distance with a spotting scope and, now and then, I would catch a glimpse of this rare bird through the binoculars during migration, along the Platte River. Even so, I only rarely shared that information with others and only rarely visited this location; I learned from hard experience just how easy it is for something so special to attract a crowd. Just knowing the bird was still in the area was enough. No, I don’t plan to make an expedition to add a Piping Plover to my Wisconsin bird list, though if I see one in my birding binocular during migration, I would count myself very fortunate, indeed. Just knowing this very special bird is making a small comeback brings a smile to my face and that will help make all the bad news of the drought go down a little easier. Tuesday, May 25, 2010My yard, the jungle It’s been one of those springs: so cool you wonder if you’ll ever get a tan and then you wake up one morning and it’s summer, with temps on the 80s and pushing 90. Our yard shows it, too. It’s now an impenetrable wall of green on all sides surrounding a nearly out of control tall grass prairie we call a lawn. It’s also an almost overwhelming collection of odors and smells, too, what with all our flowers and shrubs. I can still see my birdfeeders and do some birdwatching, though, but I am getting a little concerned – the yew bushes below my kitchen windows need trimming or they will soon rob me of my view. Even the best binoculars cannot see through that mass of green. This is my first spring/summer in Milwaukee and southeast Wisconsin and I must say I am impressed. The farm country in this part of Wisconsin is really quite lovely and the word that comes to mind is pastoral. Before Bill and I leave it for the woods and lakes of the northern part of the state, I would love to do some landscape photography with the film cameras. I will also use my digital cameras, too, but this is the type of work better suited to a good film camera, in my opinion. In fact, if I had the funds, I would just skip the film SLR and go right to a medium or large format film camera, but I have many a fine landscape photograph hanging in our home done with nothing more than a 50 mm normal lens and an old film SLR. Right now, though, I need to do some work in the yard. Monday, May 24, 2010The perfect telescope sizeYou don’t get to go shopping and buy a telescope very often, so most of us spend some time and do a lot of thinking and research about that “perfect telescope” as if it was going to be the last telescope we buy. Of course, this seldom the case, but it is a good idea to think about what is your perfect telescope. The truth is, though, the perfect telescope does not exist, so you simply try to balance the pros and cons of each telescope model and go forward. Right now, for instance, I am trying to make a decision as to telescope size. I plan to get a Dobsonian, such as the Meade Lightbridge or the Skywatcher Dob, so it now boils down to what size. In the past, I have owned a 10” Dobsonian and it was right at the limit of what I could carry and handle, just moving it out of the house into the backyard. Of course, I now have a husband who actively supports me in all my activities, so maybe I can look at a larger telescope, this time. Even with my big bear of a man, though, there is a practical limit on how large a telescope you can conveniently move every time you want to observe. From past experience with other astronomers, I know that you reach a point with telescope size where you should seriously consider building a shed or permanent observatory around the telescope. A 12” telescope can still be moved, though not conveniently, but a 16” telescope is best left in its own building. Hey, Bill! I have a little building project for you. Friday, May 21, 2010Binocular or telescope? One of the many things I like about astronomy is that you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. In other words, there is something for everyone in amateur astronomy, regardless of your technical prowess. This fact is sometimes lost obscured by all the talk of telescopes, telescope accessories, objects with strange names and all the other buzz you read and hear in astronomy circles. However, it is very important for a beginner to know there is a great deal of fun to be had with nothing more than your unaided eye and a dark night sky, though most folks typically do opt to buy a telescope or, at least, a an astronomy binocular to get started. As to the choice of binocular or telescope, a binocular is much the simpler and user friendly instrument and a great way to begin in astronomy. However, it is also important to understand that, although there is some overlap as to what in mind that the two instruments do, they cannot duplicate each other. Binoculars and telescopes give you quite a different perspective on the night sky; no amount of wishful thinking will turn a binocular into a telescope or a telescope into a binocular. That is why most serious amateur astronomers own and use both, myself included. Which do I use more? If you are a regular reader of my blogs, you know I do about as much astronomy, or more, with a binocular than a telescope. A binocular was my first serious astronomy tool and I guess I’ve never been able to put a binocular down for long when I do astronomy, even though I certainly own and use telescopes. In fact, if you already own a binocular, you can use it to at least some astronomy, right now. Thursday, May 20, 2010How much magnification?In my 80mm APO refractor telescope, my 3 mm Televue Radian eyepiece gives me 160x. As magnifications go in an astronomy telescopes, this is a fairly useful magnification for viewing some objects, but either too much or too little for others. That’s why you need several telescope eyepieces to cover all the bases in astronomy. Of course, there is also telescope size to consider. In a small telescope, like my 80 mm refractor, 160x is closing in on the maximum the telescope can handle and still provide decent image quality, though I can go a bit higher when observing conditions are good. Last night, I tried my APO refractor with the Televue eyepiece for 160x on Mars. Forget it. Mars is not in a great position, right now, relative to Earth, to provide a sizeable image at 160x. All I could see last night was a small red globe, enough to confirm I was looking at Mars, but not enough to really reveal any detail, though, even at its best, Mars is not too generous when it comes to revealing detail in a an amateur telescope. The moon, on the other hand, is a blast as 160x. Last night, viewing along the terminator (area where the lighted portion meets the shadow portion) was almost eerie at 160x. I could see craters within craters and those long shadows highlighted an amazing amount of detail. If you are the owner of a small telescope, even if it can only handle 100x, in terms of image quality, the moon is a must-see object and, best of all, the view changes on a nightly basis. Mars, of course, gets all the publicity and there is no denying the depth of the “Mars mystique”, but compared to the moon, Mars is a lightweight in a telescope as far as detail. Wednesday, May 19, 2010BirthdayI have a birthday coming up and it is the big 60. (Scream). Okay, I have no reason to be frightened. For one thing, there was more than once in my life when I did not expect to see that number and, hey, today’s 60 is yesterday’s … whatever. What counts is not the number, anyway, but the quality and, in that respect, I am doing better, now, than perhaps at anytime in my life. I was once advised, in my youth, to pursue interests that would stay with me for a lifetime and, as I look back, that was some of the best advice I have ever received. What amazes is that I am as passionate about those pursuits, now, as I was nearly fifty years, ago, when I started them. In fact, I spend more time, now, doing astronomy, birding, bicycling, photography, skiing, music and so on than I did in my younger years. It's what's in your hearth that counts, as always. My astronomy is a good example. Now that we have purchased a retirement home far from the big city, I have dusted off some of my astronomy books and charts and am eagerly making a list (a long list) of objects that I have not seen, since I moved to the big city, too many years, ago. Better yet, Bill is buying a telescope as my birthday present (isn't he a darling!) and I am making a list of telescope eyepieces and telescope accessories I want to buy for it. This is great. I feel like that college student of so long, ago, that fell in love and fell, hard, with the wonders of the night sky. Parents and grandparents can do no better than giving a child a telescope if they want to supplying a gift that can last a lifetime. If you are as young as you feel, then I should be around for a long time. Tuesday, May 18, 2010Garmin 76On the advice of someone who read my blog and posted a comment (thank-you!), I have decided to that a Garmin 76 in one of its variations will be my next GPS for outdoor and back country work. I already have the low-end Garmin Nuvi for the car and my daughter has one, too and low-end or not, the Garmin Nuvi has been very reliable and trustworthy. It still has an annoying tendency to want to route me through the back streets, rather than the main arterials, but it does get me home, no matter what. If a cheaper Garmin can work so well, I expect a more expensive Garmin should work great. I am still a bit awed by GPS technology. Guess that tells you how old I am. I started backpacking in a serious way back in the 70s and I do remember the care and effort it took when navigating the back country with map and compass. A good topo map was gold (and I suspect it still is) and a serious compass (not a toy) was a lifesaver at times. Navigating in the wilderness is a skill that has, perhaps, gotten a little dusty, but one I never regretted learning and one I intend to revive, soon. Call me old-fashioned, but I am still a bit uneasy when it comes to relying on anything that runs on batteries. No, mostly I will be using a GPS to store the locations of fishing and wildlife hotspots and, since I will be not too far from the Lake Superior waterfall country, I will also be using my Garmin to keep a record of some of the more hidden and lesser known waterfalls. Monday, May 17, 2010Small telescope or large telescope?I’ve always had a love affair with small, premium grade refractor telescopes, such as my current APO triplet, one of a kind, LOMO/Apogee custom refractor. Nothing like a small telescope when it comes to ease of use and great portability and nothing like an APO refractor to blow your socks off when it comes to image quality. On the other hand, even the best quality small telescope is still a small telescope and limited in terms of how many objects in the sky it can see and how much detail it can resolve. The laws of optics always give the larger telescope an advantage in this regard. So why doesn’t everyone have and use a large telescope? Aside from higher cost and greater difficulty of operation, large telescopes are often impractical for big city observing due to the effects of light pollution. It is sometimes a better strategy for the urban astronomer to opt for a small or, better yet, a mid-sized telescope like the Meade ETX-125 and pack it into the car and drive to a dark sky site than to invest in a really large telescope like a Meade LX200R that is much less portable and which will never come close to its potential under a light polluted sky. That is why I have been waiting till the day when I would return to rural skies to buy another large telescope and, now, happy to say, that day is finally approaching. I will be moving to northern Wisconsin, later this year, far, far from any major city. Time for Joanie to go shopping for a large telescope. Since I have always been a user and a fan of Dobsonian telescopes, the Meade Lightbridge or the Slywatcher Dobsonian are looking good and, this time, I will go at least 12” since I now have a husband to lift it for me! Lookout dark skies, here I come! Friday, May 14, 2010Astronomy and trees don't mixI certainly have nothing against trees; indeed, I love trees more than most people and, at one time, almost decided to go into Forestry, rather than zoology. To me, it’s almost heresy to say anything negative about trees, but there are times when trees are, well, inconvenient. Last night, I stepped out in the back yard to let Roscoe, our dog, have his nightly, run and was delighted to see that the sky had finally cleared after nearly a week of rain and clouds. Yes, I was sorely tempted to grab the astronomy binoculars or telescopes and have at it and, yes, I am way overdue for some serious observing time. However, one thing I had overlooked all winter was the how the trees in my yard would block my view once the trees were covered with leaves. I moved in with my Bill over the winter, so the new perspective was not what I had expected. Much to my dismay, very little of the sky is visible form my yard, front or back, when the leaves are on the trees. What to do? My first impulse was to grab the Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe binocular, since the big advantage of using binoculars is the ability to move about, quickly and easily. Even so, I reckoned that observing from the yard would be too limiting, given the few windows my yard provides to the sky. For sure, using a telescope would be much less practical, since they are considerably less mobile and it is more of a hassle to setup and use a telescope. My next option was to move out in the street, but, even though our street is not too busy, there are street lights and we do get cars, now and then. No, setting up in the street with either binoculars or telescopes would be a poor option from an observing point of view, not to mention a safety point of view. That left the park, which is only about 200 feet from our house. I have observed in parks, in Chicago, but observing in your local park has its problems, too. For one thing, it is sometimes against ordinances concerning park hours and, even worse, there is the matter of safety, especially for a woman by herself. I never had an incident in Chicago, but it is still a risky thing to do and I didn’t make a habit of it. No, the only way I will set up in a park, now, is with Bill at my side. Hmmm. Not sure how much astronomy we would get done. We only just got married last November. Thursday, May 13, 2010Back country GPS and digital camerasI have been a hardcore fishing gal all my life and that includes fishing of all kinds and with all kinds of tackle. To say that I am excited about relocating and retiring to the Rhinelander, Wisconsin area has me anxious to do some fishing is an understatement. There are over 1100 lakes in Oneida county, alone and, if that is not enough, there are miles of small brooks and creeks with trout. These little trout streams don’t get as much attention as the big water, of course, but this is one gal who plans to do some exploring in the back country to feed flies to those little brookies. Brook trout and the tiny bog streams are in my blood; when I was young, my uncle used to take me fishing for brookies in the bog streams of northern Minnesota. Traversing the bog country is no easy matter. One wrong step can send you in over your head in water hiding under what you thought was solid ground; in a bog, a lot of the vegetation just floats on the water. Because of this, your hike to the actual stream can have more twists and turns than a can of worms and that, in turn, means that it is easy to lose your way. Since I am directionally challenged, I plan to arm myself with a handheld GPS and a good one at that, such as the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx before I start wandering around in the bush. This one is also waterproof - a good feature in a GPS you plan to use for fishing. Since, swampy, low country is not a good place to lose your way or a place to get trapped and spend the night, I also plan to pack a small survival kit as a backup, just as I have when traveling in any other back country area. Some essential camping gear can be a lifesaver, especially in country where it can snow any month of the year. On a more positive note, a GPS can do more than help you get back to the vehicle. A good GPS can also store locations for you, so once I find that secret fishing spot, I will save it in the GPS and find it again. Eventually, I hope to have quite a library of these hotspots. To better record what I see, I will also carry one of my digital cameras or, better yet, buy a waterproof digital camera, such as the Canon Powershot D10. Of course, it will also take pics of all the fish I catch! Wednesday, May 12, 2010GPS and geocaching in my future?The constant cold, wet weather, lately, has stopped a lot of folks from heading outdoors to pursue their favorite activities, but I am pleased to report that I have still been able to get outside on a regular basis for my biking, birdwatching, photography and have already made plans to do some kayaking and fishing. Of course, no action with the telescopes or astronomy binoculars, but sooner or later, the sky will clear and I will make up for lost time with the astronomy. That’s the advantage of having so many outdoor interests – there is always something to do, no matter what the weather. Of course, there is also a down side to having such a wide range of interests. Now and then, in my life, I have stretched myself pretty thin, both in terms of time and money, to support all my hobbies. On a couple of occasions, I even made a list of all the pros and cons of each hobby, foolishly thinking I get logical about the whole thing and eliminate one or two hobbies to free up some time and money. Ha! Me logical? It never worked, simply because I tend to passionate in all things I do, rather than logical and, as I soon learned, when I stop one activity, I simply add a new activity to compensate. The quest and zeal to do and to explore outweighs any logic. For instance, now that we will be moving to a more natural and more remote area , I have been thin of dusting off my old skills with map and compass and even getting a GPS to try geocaching. It sounds like a lot of fun and, well, I’ll be out in the woods, anyway … How's that for logic? Tuesday, May 11, 2010North country home It’s official. This north country gal is going back home to the north woods where she belongs. We just bought our dream home up north of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The place we bought is not one of those well manicured homes, on nicely landscaped lots, on a lake surrounded by nothing but other well manicured homes and loaded with powerboats and jet skis. We looked at many of those and just felt like we would be only trading our subdivision home in the city for another subdivision home, but one with a lake. Who wants to look out any of their windows and just see neighbors? Might as well stay in the big city. Our new place is anything but that. Our north country place is not visible from the road and not a single neighbor is visible from any window in the house, though we will still have neighbors nearby and Rhinelander is only a few miles, away. We will be surrounded by thick, heavy forest growth, not an open park like forest; our lake is shallow and weedy with nothing for a beach or a place to swim, but it is wild and it is loaded with birds and wildlife of all kinds. It is a birdwatching heaven; I know, because I took a walk in the woods to check it out before I even looked at the house. In fact, our lake is surrounded by far more wild land than it is homes and only a single home is visible from our dock. We will be able to literally use my telescopes, my binoculars, our digital cameras, our canoes and kayaks, our skis, our snowshoes and all the rest of our outdoor gear right out our back door. The realtor reported that they had snow the other night. Snow in May? A chance to go skiing in May? Now, that’s my kind of place. About the pic: the view from our porch Monday, May 10, 2010Digiscopingat the bird feeder  Okay, it is warbler season if you live around here and you are an active and serious birder like me. May is the time of year to grab your birding binoculars and get some birdwatching action with the warblers; many of them will be moving on to other places and you may have to wait until next spring to see them, again. So, what’s with the pics of the sparrows? (Those are not warblers in the pic.) For one thing, I spent most of my life in the prairie states and the prairie states are really the premier places to be for sparrows. We did have warblers, of course, in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, where I grew up, but not the diversity I get living in the east, as I have, more recently, in Illinois, Wisconsin and upstate New York. So, you might say that sparrows are my oldest pals when it comes to birdwatching. Sparrows may be little brown birds to some, but they are a very interesting bird group to me; sparrows were my first real challenge to identify. In fact, they are the reasons I bought my first spotting scope. For another thing, I like to keep a photographic record of all the birds that visit my feeders by digiscoping with my digital cameras and spotting scopes. Since sparrows are much easier to entice to a bird feeder than warblers, I therefore tend to get more pics of sparrows than warblers. So far this winter and spring, I have taken pics of Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows and now, as you can see from the pics, Chipping Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows. Keep those sparrows coming! Friday, May 07, 2010UFOsI’ve had UFOs and extraterrestrials on the mind, lately. Maybe because Bill and I watched War of the movies Worlds and Signs at home, this week, or maybe because I read Stephen Hawkings comments about the intent of extraterrestrials that might visit the earth. He believes that their intentions might not be so pleasant. Okay, I think that discussing the intentions of visitors from other worlds to Earth is a little like discussing how you will spend all that money when you win the lottery and, in fact, the odds of winning the lottery are probably much better than being visited by extraterrestrials. I do think the odds for life on other worlds is overwhelming – a view shared by most scientists – but, no, I don’t buy into all the UFO hype. The physics and the logistics of that kind of space travel just don't add up in my book. I do respect others who believe in UFOs and alien contact and have no wish to insult them or their views and I certainly can't dismiss all of them as just a bunch of loonies as some do. The UFO believers have a right to their opinions, just as I have a right to mine and, like anyone with a scientific background, I must always allow for the possibility that I am wrong. That said, I have been an avid amateur astronomer for over forty years and I have spent more time looking at things with telescopes and astronomical binoculars in the night sky than most of the world’s population and, in fact, more than most professional astronomers, since most of professional astronomy is now about sitting at a computer instead of looking through a telescope eyepiece. Indeed, very few professional astronomers know how to operate a telescope or even identify basic constellations – what they study goes far beyond such rudimentary things. My point is that in all those years, I have yet to see a single UFO, though I have seen many objects that others thought were UFOs out of ignorance. If someone wants to believe that the planet Venus, as it sparkles and shimmers in different colors due to refraction form the atmosphere when it is low over the horizon, that’s their business. Personally, I see no need to add UFOs to the night sky, anyway; what science has already discovered to be true about the night sky is stranger than any UFO tale. On the other hand, I do love a good science fiction movie. Thursday, May 06, 2010New arrivals for my bird list  What a difference a day can make! The weather around here has been cooling just a bit, but the birding has not. Each day brings some new birds into the area and I head out on the trail every day, birding binocular at the ready, eager to see what new arrivals I can add to my 2010 bird list. For birdwatchers, May is the month to add birds to the old bird list, so, as the farmers say, I have been making hay while the sun shines. I won’t even go out to the mailbox without my binoculars, right now. Yesterday, for instance, the bike trail was teeming with flocks of Palm Warblers, whereas, the day before, not a one was in sight. Yes, what a difference a day can make! Also added a Scarlet Tanager to my spring list – no pic, but that is such a spectacular bird, I am tempted to load up tripod, spotting scope and digital cameras on the bike and hit the trail for some digiscoping. A nice pic of a Scarlet would be a real prize. One prize pic I did get is the bird in the pic, above. Yesterday brought not one, but two pairs of these Rose-breasted Grosbeaks to my feeders and they were gracious enough to allow me to take their pictures. They now join what I call my color squad at the feeders; this bright group includes the swarms of Goldfinches that have been working over my new finch feeder as well as Cardinals, White-throated Sparrows, Nuthatches, House Finches and various woodpecker species. My feeders have been a very busy place, this spring. Wednesday, May 05, 2010Astronomy binocular and telescope now! I’ve been cutting back on my astronomy, as of late. It’s not that I haven’t had the time or that I haven’t had any clear nights; in fact, I have had plenty of both and that is definitely unusual. So what’s been keeping my telescopes and astronomy binoculars, inside the house? This is not like me, at all. The prospect of moving, up north, to a new home where the skies are much, much better for astronomy has distracted me. I’ve been fighting the big city, light-polluted skies and accepted performance from my binoculars and telescopes that is far below their potential for so long, that the prospect of really seeing what my equipment can do, prompts me to wait. Now that I have a prospect for doing some very serious astronomy, why bother with the same old nasty light-polluted skies? My binoculars and telescopes deserve better and so do I! Okay, I know that is foolish; I know that the future is a mind game and that what I have, here and now, is the only thing that is real. I have always done my best not to live in the future, at the expense of the present. I have what some folks would regard as the best astronomy binocular in the Nikon Astroluxe 10x70; I have what some folks would regard as a premier telescope in my custom APO refractor telescope fitted with Televue eyepieces, no less. Not use them? I know better. Next clear night, lookout skies, here I come! Tuesday, May 04, 2010Turkey watching When we think of birding and birdwatching, we typically think of songbirds or, perhaps, waterfowl, raptors and shore birds. These are the bird groups that draw us afield and tempt us to pay the big bucks for expensive birding binoculars or birding spotting scopes. Now and then, however, we do get to see and enjoy something a bit out of the ordinary birding fare. Yesterday, I was out on the bike trail, moving slowly, watching for warblers. A gal passed me, coming from the other direction, and told me there were turkeys, ahead. That was good news, of course and I thanked her. I wasn’t totally surprised, since I had seen turkeys in the area, before, and spring is the turkey mating season, meaning the birds have other things on their minds and are thus a bit less cautious. That's why you are most likely to see turkeys in the spring. I pulled my digital camera out of the pack (I carry all the time it for just such opportunities) and zoomed the lens to 420 mm. I was ready. I moved ahead on the bike ever so slowly and, sure enough, about forty yards down the trail I could see a hen turkey back in the thick brush. It was no go for a pic, but I did enjoy the chance to see a turkey. I quietly moved on down the trail and was thinking about some of the other turkey sightings I have had in my life, when I glanced to my left and spotting a trail that cut through the brush that might get me a better view of the turkey and a possible pic. Why not? The trail quickly opened into a grassy savannah and, sure enough, I spotted the hen, again, but she was too distant for a pic. As I watched her in my binoculars, though, a tom strutted out of the brush, just within range of my camera. I was lucky enough to get a shot as he fanned his tail to impress the hen. I don’t know if she was impressed, but I was. Monday, May 03, 2010North woods astronomy Bill and I spent the weekend, up in northern Wisconsin, looking at possible homes to buy for our retirement years. We packed a lot of looking into just a day and a half, shoot a lot of pics and worked hard, taking notes on each and every home, but it was worth it. We did find some very good possibilities that met our many requirements for a place to live when we retire in the not too distant future. Even if we hadn’t found a few possibilities, the trip would have been worth it, just to be back in the north country we both love. We both had some specific requirements for that perfect place to live. Mine were a bit more specific to the outdoors, given all my outdoor interests. For instance, a big must have for me is a dark sky for my astronomical binoculars and my telescopes. I've lived far too long in the big city and suffered enough with light pollution. I thirst for dark skies, again. This, I thought, would be automatic, since any home in that rural area of northern Wisconsin is far from big city light pollution and will automatically have dark skies. True, the skies are dark, even in the town Rhinelander proper, but what I had overlooked was that not every home has enough of an opening through the trees to provide a good view of the sky. Well, duh! What did I expect to find in a heavily forested area? So, as we looked at homes, I also looked for solutions. One option I checked was to see if a dock could be used for astronomy. Nearly every waterfront home in Wisconsin has a dock, after all. A dock is part of the culture in this country, but a dock for astronomy? Maybe. Yes, I would use a dock for some binocular astronomy, but it would have to be a very substantial dock to convince me to use a dock as a platform for a telescope and telescope mount; telescopes and telescope mounts are not designed to withstand a soak in the lake, after all. On the other hand, many astronomy binoculars are, in fact, waterproof and they could survive a dunking. I also checked for lakes that provided a nice beach, but I soon learned that not all beaches are created the same. Some were simply too muddy and marshy to use with a big telescope and some were too sandy. Oh, yeah, sandy beaches are a big plus for swimming, but not so hot for optical equipment. From past experience, I know it is practically optical suicide to use any binocular, spotting scope or telescope around sand. Only takes a little sand to ruin a binocular, spotting scope, telescope, camera – in short, anything with a lens. Best beach I found was a beach covered with small pebbles, but not many fit in this category. In the end, the best solution I found was a yard with at least one open area; I found several of these, though, again, most homes we saw had trees right up to the side of the house. This is understandable, of course, since being surrounded by trees is half the fun of living in this country. Did find one yard (see the pic), though, that was open and still had a spectacular north country view. Yeah, I could live, there, along with my birding binoculars, astronomy binoculars, digital cameras ... |
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