Parrots???

We saw a pair of green birds swooping across our street to roost in a neighbor's tree. What were they? By the time we got the binoculars, they were gone. According to the bird books, they were probably escaped domestic parrots or parakeets, but we couldn't make a firm identification.

It is supposed to be freezing tonight. We hope it won't be too cold for them.

Our Equipment

Gary and I have very different binoculars, although we each paid about the same price. I'm noting the differences here, so that we will have a basis for comparison as our adventures proceed.

As birdwatching novices, our requirements are fairly simple:

• We live in central Texas, where summer outdoor heat and humidity is roughly that of a sauna bath. Combined with aggressive indoor air conditioning, this means we need reliable waterproof and fogproof binoculars.
• We both wear prescription eyeglasses, so we need provision for individual eyepiece adjustments, and good "eye relief" (with adjustable eye cups that permit the wearing of eyeglasses, if desired).
  
• We want optics that are clear and bright, distortion-free and properly collimated, firmly set in sturdy casings that will stand up to everyday life.
• We are definitely not in the market for world-class binoculars that require a big financial investment.
  

Gary's binoculars (7x50 Mariner Pro from Steiner, now discontinued) are a rarity in binoculars, waterproof porro prisms. Here are the specs.

• Field of View: 354 ft at 1000 yds
• Closest Focus: 20 ft
  
• Exit Pupil: 7.14 mm
  
• Eye relief: 22 mm
• Eye cups: wrap-around fold-down
  
• Weight: 37 oz
• Waterproofed, nitrogen-purged lenses, fully multi-coated
  
• BaK4 porro prisms
  

They are good, solid outdoor binoculars. No close focus, so no focus wheel. Set them to your eyes and you are done.

As birdwatching field glasses, they do best observing in wide open spaces or watching birds in flight. Gary also enjoys stargazing with them; they have nice broad light-gathering optics, with a broad exit pupil for dark nights.

These are the kind of binoculars you can grab from the seat of the pickup and use instantly, with no fuss. Gary grew up with binoculars like these, back on the farm in Colorado. Using them now is like coming home to a well-remembered friend.

My choice of binoculars (8x42 Burris Signature Select), are about 1/3 smaller than Gary's, in both size and weight. Here are the specs.

• Field of view: 330 ft at 1000 yds
• Closest focus: 10 ft
• Focus mechanism: lockable diopter focus ring
  
• Exit pupil: 5.2 mm
  
• Eye relief: 19 mm
• Eye cups: twist-up
• Weight: 22 oz
• Waterproofed, nitrogen-purged lenses, fully multi-coated
  
• BaK4 roof prisms
• Phase corrected
  

Burris is a small company in Greeley, Colorado, primarily specializing in hunting optics. Although these binoculars are made in Japan to Burris specifications, I hope that by purchasing them I am supporting American jobs in some small way.

(Actually, most optical glass is manufactured overseas these days, and even "made in America" products are assembled in the U.S. from imported components.)

For a person with small hands and a small face, the roof prism configuration and the smaller optics make these binoculars narrower, so the eyepieces can be closer together and the tubes are easier to hold. Plus the close focus at 10 feet makes backyard observation possible (not an option with Gary's equipment).

Optically, both binoculars seem to have glass with good edge-to-edge focus and good light-gathering characteristics. Both are shock-resistant, with heavy rubber armoring. We like our equipment sturdy!

We'll see how these work over the long term...

Saturday Afternoon Backyard Birdwatching

We started around 4:00 PM and spent about an hour and a half this afternoon watching birds and other small animals in our back yard. Here is what we saw:

1. White-winged Dove
2. Great-tailed Grackle
3. Rock Dove
4. Northern Mockingbird
5. Northern Cardinal
6. Turkey Vulture
7. Possibly a Wren. Either a Carolina Wren or a Bewick's Wren. This bird was sitting in the shadow of the purple martin house and we may have misidentified it. (After several hours of contemplation Marilyn doesn't believe it was a wren. We are not sure what it was.)
   
8. Red Squirrel
9. Domestic Cat - answered to the name of Billy-Bob. Seemed to take an interest in birdwatching with us.
   
10. Numerous other small birds that we could not identify.
    

Today we purchased some art supplies to make journals of what we see. Marilyn started drawing several of the birds that were sitting still long enough to draw. I am not real sure how successful she was. For me it is going to take a lot of practice to get where it even looks like bird. (We may end up with a camera and a powerful scope if I need to draw any birds and have them recognized.)

Conditions this afternoon were chilly, in the 50's with a brisk wind from the northwest.

Bike Ride (with Black Vultures)

I was on a bike ride near Lake Walter E. Long Lake (aka Decker Lake) when we came upon about twenty Black Vultures. They were soaring overhead, sitting in the trees, and standing and fighting in the road. I guessed there was some roadkill attracting them. I didn't see anything, but the friend I was riding with said that he saw two birds fighting over some meat. As we rode by, many of the birds flew away.

Half an hour later when we rode past the same spot, some of the birds were still there, but not nearly as many. Where had they gone?

As we rode along, we saw black vultures scattered in the surrounding trees. About two miles further on, a small dead tree leaned over the road, weighted down with about ten vultures in it. Most flew away as we approached. However, two of the birds seemed to be staring each other down, ready to fight.

As I was almost under the tree, one vulture pecked the other and caused his opponent to fly away. The fleeing bird swooped down toward the road, with the second in hot pursuit. Not wanting to be hit, I swerved into the lane away from the tree. Luckily, there was no traffic on the road.

I didn't want those big birds to crash into me, and I didn't want to be mixed up with their fight--or with anything they might drop on my head!

Friday Evening's Birdwatching Adventures

Friday after work we put our binoculars to use in the back yard. We started a little after 5 and watched until about sunset. (5:47 PM) At first there were a lot of birds flying overhead, but the numbers quickly dwindled as sunset approached. The birds that we were able to identify were:

1. Northern Cardinal (in pomegranate tree)
2. White Winged Dove (on tree in back yard of the house next door)
   
3. Rock Dove (roosting on purple martin birdhouse in yard next door)

It was a clear sky with little wind and temperature about 65.

Most Common Austin Birds

From the Travis Audubon Society

These birds are highly likely to be found in Austin at all times of year. We have indicated our first sightings of each in square brackets.

• Black Vulture
• Turkey Vulture [sighted 1/12/2008 in flight over our neighborhood]
  
• Kildeer
• Rock Pigeon [sighted 1/9/2008 in a nearby shopping area]
  
• White-winged Dove [two sighted 1/12/2008 in trees in our neighbor's yard]
  
• Mourning Dove
• American Crow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Black-crested Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• Bewick's Wren
• Northern Mockingbird [sighted 1/12/2008 chasing a Northern Cardinal]
  
• European Starling
• Northern Cardinal [sighted 1/12/2008 in bushes at the edge of our yard, very close]
  
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Great-tailed Grackle [sighted 1/12/2008 on roof of neighbor's shed]
  
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• House Sparrow

Texas Bird List - an important reference

Although we already have a guidebook on Texas birds, this electronic list is a useful reference.

Texas Bird List

According to our friend Tom, there are approximately 700 birds on the United States bird list. About 600 of these are on the Texas bird list, and the local Audubon society says that about 400 can be seen in the immediate vicinity of Austin. (Bird counts are especially high during the migration seasons.)

This electronic list is subject to constant revision and update, especially important in this time of climate change.

We Begin with Binoculars

We raced home from work tonight, grabbed our new binoculars and headed out to try to identify our first birds.

Here it is, our first entry in the log:

5:55 p.m.

Rock Pigeon

Rather a nondescript beginning, but we were working just before sundown and identified a moderately distant set of birds primarily by watching:

1. flight patterns
   
2. tail shapes
3. plumage (obscure view in the darkening sky)
   

Despite our awareness that these birds are probably the most common sighting possible, we felt pleased with ourselves.

We also determined that Gary's choice of binoculars (7x50 navigator style) is better for watching birds in flight, and my choice of binoculars (8x42 all-purpose style) is better for identifying details of birds sitting in a row above the roof of the Chinese restaurant.

And we have decided that we both need to get some practice using our respective binoculars before the spring migration gets going and things start happening fast around here!