For every birder, gear is a MUST!

Some birders have binoculars that have been in their family for generations and are enjoying the same pair their grandfather used to watch baseball games from the stands. Others have got to be on the leading edge of new technology in the advancement of eye pieces and get new gear yearly.

I’ve owned 4 pairs in my birding life. My first pair was given to me by the friend who introduced me to birding when I was the ripe young age of 24. I don’t remember the brand but they were very heavy compared with the pair I own today!

My second pair was a great pair of Audubon 10×42 binoculars that I received from my wife as a present (either Christmas or my birthday. I don’t remember which one). I used them so much that the eyepiece thread wore down to where I had to wrap electrical tape around the threading to make it stay in place!

My 3rd pair is a pair of Bushnell 10×42 binoculars that I bought from the wish.com website. This pair sits near my La-Z-Boy so that I can check my feeders without getting up. (I guess you can say that this pair would make me truly a “lazy boy”!) They have been very serviceable and got me through until I was able to purchase my current pair (pair #4) of Vortex binoculars which are light and affordable.

Spotting scopes are the next level of the birding experience! (And the reason for this post)

Spotting scopes are a must to make out the tiny dots that might be ducks, geese, grebes, or the occasional tree stump that may look like any of these seen on the lakes and ponds across the map. They are used to identify the tiny birds, hawks, and eagles in faraway tree tops.

I have had only one spotting scope.

My father-in-law watched the birds too. One of his many interests.

The story goes that he had seen an awesome deal on a Swarovski spotting scope while birding near Pointe Pelee, Canada, and purchased it there.

Well before my wife and I started dating, I saw my lifer Yellow-Breasted Chat with him on one of my early visits to the park.

Forward to 2003. My wife and I were married in February and in June my father-in-law was diagnosed with brain cancer which sadly took him Thanksgiving morning of that year. He is always remembered with love and laughter and with fondness for the great man he is.

My wife and I moved to New Mexico the following year and I was permitted to take dad’s scope with me to use. While his daughters enjoy nature and wildlife, none are birders so the scope was free to use, and I have been in possession of it ever since.

I have taken the scope across the country. From Southern California to South Texas to Key West, Florida. From the desert of New Mexico to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. All along the Atlantic coast and in every corner of my home state here in Michigan. I always remember that where the scope is dad is with me also. He has been with me in finding lifers, including the newest: Black Guillemot in Maine, and in making sure that the bird in the tree top is an America Robin. Every spotting continues to make memories that shape my birding voyage.

Unless my mother-in-law asks for it to be returned to her, I will never have in my possession another spotting scope.

Remember that no matter the price or technology or the brand that you use for your birding adventures, all your gear creates lasting memories which are much more valuable and irreplaceable.

Dad’s scope has traveled.