This is not a response to Tim’s post, it is in regards to hawk watching only, but the timing is good because of Tim’s post and I already had it written. I hate spotting scopes for hawk watching (I mean birds in flight on migration, not sitting birds). Why? Because I think it hinders the learning process. Birders will learn much more taking notice of shape and flight style in binoculars than trying to notice some plumage marking in a scope. Every time I look through a scope it takes my eyes several minutes to focus again. I know you should keep both eyes open when you look through a scope, but it still doesn't help me. I think scopes are great for watching perched shorebirds, gulls, ducks, etc. but for flying raptors, scopes are for suckers! In fact, any hawk watching field trips I may lead in the future, there will be one rule -- no scopes. I wonder if anyone will show up? You’d be surprised what you could identify in binoculars when you steady yourself! Honestly, is it fun to stare at some speck in the scope for minutes on end? I’d rather just study birds with my binoculars, and if its so far away its “invisible”, then screw it….who cares?

I’ve been at hawk watching sites where there were spotting scopes lined up in a row. I think most people think they need a scope to identify birds, or they think they are going to miss something that someone else with a scope can see. I used to know a guy who would scan with his scope to find the most distant bird on the horizon, and then watch it for 10 minutes, only to misidentify it in the end and miss the rest of the flight in an attempt to impress someone. Some people just feel insecure without their scope. I’m not interested in being the first to name a distant bird. There are people who swear by scopes, and will tell me I'm crazy or just dead wrong about them…I’ve heard it all. And they are probably the people who have never watched without a scope. I know this post is biased, but just my thoughts and those who like scopes for raptors…more power to you. Besides, it’s much easier to carry binoculars. If you are going to use a scope for flying birds, make sure you have an eyepiece that has a wide field of view. If you can’t find birds in flight, you are wasting your time.

I'm not going to say a lot here--just sharing a few pictures that a buddy of mine took during the Great Salt Lake Audubon Gullstravaganza a couple weeks ago. When I saw the pictures I was amazed at the number of spotting scopes present. Despite having been there and seeing them, the pictures tell a better story:

It reminds me of the pictures in magazines of people chasing a mega-rarity, lined up shoulder to shoulder to see the bird. Olny in these pictures we were scanning a lake looking for anything worth taking a look at!

These are some of my favorite photos...of course most are raptors. I just couldn't narrow it down to one, and didn't want to post 10 times. To all, let me know which one you like, I am interested to hear the choices. (click on photo to enlarge)

The recent post on this blog titled Golf and Birds (link) has sure brought out a lot of comments. At the heated center of a debate that has arisen is the notion that humans are "destroying the planet". I think we've all found common ground in acknowledgement that humanity's footprint is an untamed beast that is having a cascading effect throughout the globe. The repercussions are loss of habitat and resources and consequently some of the variety beyond homo sapiens that the processes of evolution and nature produced.

Some out there may believe that the future holds certain inevitabilities and that one of them is that we're screwed. I think you know what I mean by that but just to clarify, picture all the Hollywood movies that have been springing up about the end of the world, throw in something from the bible about God's wrath and you'll have an idea of what it means to be screwed.

To me, what's in the past is done but the future is unwritten. Yeah, we have a trash vortex the size of Texas in the North Pacific (link). Holy shit. It reminds me of The Nothing from the Neverending story. What can we do? The Industrial Revolution began just over 200 years ago. It didn't happen in a day. And if you had asked someone in 1800 if they thought that there'd be a way to instantly communicate with millions of people (OK I know we only get around 200 hits a day, but the potential is there) they'd not be able to fathom it. Change doesn't happen overnight and we're not going to clean up the ocean overnight. Maybe there won't be enough people who want to and maybe industry will keep on marching, keep on polluting in the ways it has been. I don't know. But I'm not going to sit back and accept it as an inevitability. There's such a thing as believing in the improbable. There's such a thing as one person or one act making a difference that changes the world; There are countless examples throughout history. I can't see 200 years into the future. But today I saw some of the Hawaiian Islands ban plastic bags (link). What's that going to do? I don't know, but it gives me hope for the future.

This is my favorite photo I have taken, and of my favorite bird, Piranga ludoviciana, or the Western Tanager as most of us know it. I took this near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon in May of 2010 as the northern Utah valleys were being overwhelmed by literally flocks of tanagers heading north. I may have also photshopped a stick that ran across the birds back to make the image look a little prettier than it initially was.