Hi all,
Through some wonderful holidays in the Coonabarabran region, especially at Pilliga Pottery, I have become interested in birdwatching. This may be a sad reflection of my age, or be indicative of some slowly evolving dimentia, but there you have it!
Anyhow, I dropped into the boys at Bintel late last week, and Mike Smith and Michael Chaytor gave me a fantastic introduction to binos for birding. I emailed them yesterday to advise my choice (which at that point they did not have in stock). The stock arrived this morning, and so Michael Chaytor was on the phone to me straight away to let me know. With the payment by credit card over the phone, within three hours I had my new binoculars around my neck at my office in Chatswood!
Now that is superb service!
By the way, the binos I got are Nikon Monarchs (series 5), 8 x 42, as per:
http://www.bintel.com.au/Binoculars/...oductview.aspx
Late in the day, I spent some time in very low light (about 6.10pm), observing a huge flock of Eastern Rosellas carrying on in a stand of trees near Woy Woy station. In what was essentially darkness, I was able to ascertain exactly what was going on in that tree, and let me tell you there was a lot of love going on!
After dinner tonight I spent some time under the stars, seeing how the Nikon performs with the night sky. Very nicely is the answer. I very comfortably enjoyed views of the Carina Nebula complex, M42 and surrounds, Omega Centauri and numerous star clusters and wide doubles around the sky. I am very pleased. At 610 grams, it is very light and comfortable to hold up, and at 8x magnification, the view is pretty steady, especially if you are sitting or leaning against something to aid one's overall balance.
I can't wait for a chance to observe some bird life next time I have some time at home during daylight hours!