In 1974, I got perhaps the best Christmas present ever when
my mother- and father-in-law gave me my very first pair of binoculars. They
were Bushnell Insta-focus 7x50s. I’d never had binoculars before, and these
were pretty much perfect for a first pair. The 7x magnification made finding
birds in the binoculars easy for a rank beginner. The 50-mm objective lens made
them heavy, but I was 23 and didn’t mind at all, and that large size made the
image nice and bright when I was out searching for my first woodcocks and owls
in twilight or even at night. These were the only binoculars I used for the
first 4 ½ years of my birding, and I took them everywhere. I saw my first 357
species through them, and passed them among my students on bird walks. They
were plenty good enough, but little by little, time and heavy use took their
toll.
It was hard to give them up—as a matter of fact, I still
have them. But by late 1979 I needed a new pair, so I scraped up the money to
get a pair of Minolta 8x pocket binoculars—they were not nearly as bright as my
Bushnells, and a little harder to hold steady because they were so tiny, but
they lasted for 8 years. By then I was helping as an emergency auxiliary backup
counter at Hawk Ridge, and counting birds from the Lakewood Pumping Station. I
was also getting headaches after a day of counting. So I blew my family’s
entire discretionary income for 1987 on a pair of amazing Zeiss 10x40s. They
were brilliant and powerful. They should have lasted a lifetime, but when I was
working at an optics company, I made the mistake of loaning them out while I
was testing other models. The first person I loaned them to not-too-helpfully
took them to a non-authorized camera store for cleaning, but they glued in the
eyecups. I should have learned my lesson then and there, but I made the mistake
of lending them to another person who never returned them. Meanwhile I’d bought
a pair of 6x30 Leupold Katmais, from when Leupold was still making their
products in the United States. These don’t quite cut it when I’m trying to spot
distant jaegers out on Lake Superior or getting a great look at a hawk way up
in the blue, but their wide field of view and brightness make them great for
watching feeder birds out my window, and reasonably good for everyday use.
Now that I’ve been taking so many photos while I’m birding,
I’ve been getting into the habit of bringing my cameras along and leaving the
binoculars behind altogether. But this fall I did quite a bit of traveling and
birding in unfamiliar places and missed having top-quality binoculars. Binocular
optics have advanced since I worked for an optics company, and one current
pair seemed absolutely perfect—exquisite 8x optics and so light I'd hardly
notice the weight even when lugging my camera and telephoto lens: the
Zeiss 8x32 Victory binoculars. I’m not earning anywhere near enough right now to
afford anything new, much less something this wonderful, so when I’ve been to birding festivals I’ve shied away
from even touching these dream binoculars. But out of the blue, a few days
before Christmas one of my dearest birding buddies, who works at Eagle Optics,
gave me his own pair of this exact model on a very long-term loan. I feel like a little kid
again—I started a list of all the birds I’ve seen through them, and call them my
Mikey Zs, after my friend Mike and Zeiss.
My Conservation Big Year starts tomorrow. I’m going to be
trying to see as many birds of conservation concern as I can in 2013, while
writing about their plight and what individuals and groups are doing to help.
My splendid new binoculars will surely help me on my quest.
