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© WindStar Wildlife Institute
Binoculars
For Birders
You are a person who enjoys watching birds and this
puts you in good company.
In the estimates of the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, over 60 million North Americans have
discovered the pleasure and challenge of birding.
C
hances are, you already own
a pair of binoculars – a pair
you inherited or bought without
much thought; a pair that has
served, but maybe did not excel.
But now you are ready to
move up to quality optics...
binoculars that will make it easy
to get into those hyperkinetic
warblers and treetop vireos.
You need binoculars that are
sharp enough to resolve the
details that separate look-alike
flycatchers and bright enough
to disclose the facial pattern of
an “olive backed" thrush stalking
the shadows. In short you are
ready to buy a pair of “birding
binoculars."
Won’t Just Any Binocular Do.
Binoculars are the primary
tool for bird watching. Different
“User Groups" (hunters,
yachtsmen, backpackers,
concert goers) use binoculars
as an accessory to their
activity or sport. But binoculars
are not just an accessory to
birding.
Binoculars are the
instruments that define
birding – the functional
equivalent of the first
baseman’s glove, the
musician’s instrument, the
plow in the hands of the
frontier farmer.
Every user group has its own
peculiar needs and constraints
that binocular manufacturers
translate into binocular makes
and models.
Hunters, for example, demand
rugged, durable, optically precise
binoculars that perform well
even in the low light conditions
of dawn and dusk. Yachtsmen
