Today I was birding at the Danube river between the German cities Günzburg and Lauingen. I was hoping to see a White-tailed Eagle, my favorite bird. At our first stop at a reservoir called “Faiminger Stausee” we weren’t lucky with an eagle but we saw a Northern Goshawk. The bird was far away and although I first found it with my binoculars, I used my spotting scope to get a better look. That made identification of the bird much easier and we also got a better look at this magnificent raptor.
After birding at the reservoir we went to a protected area called “Gundelfinger Moos”. There is a lake there were we found many Graylag Geese and other waterfowl. After walking for about 1.5 kilometer, I scanned distant trees for raptors with my binoculars. I immediately noticed a bird that seemed to be quite big. Unfortunately the bird was very far away and the light was not the best. We tried to get closer, but after walking a short distance, the bird flew away. A quick look through the binoculars suggested that it was indeed what I was hoping for: a white-tailed eagle. Again I set up my spotting scope to get a closer look. After watching it a little bit the identification was clear. The white tail, the broad wings at the vulture like flight all were clear signs for Europe’s biggest eagle.
The point of all this is, that without the spotting scope we still may have been able to identify the eagle and the Goshawk, but it would have been much more difficult. Also we got much better views of the birds.
Many birders don’t carry spotting scopes when they have to walk for a distance longer that 1 kilometer. Nowadays I almost always take a spotting scope and the necessary tripod with me (except for long hikes in the mountains or when birding in dense forests). First, it is often a great help for identifying distant birds and second, it allows you to get a much better view of the bird. When I watch a bird with binoculars I often miss details like the color of it’s eyes (eye color can be a good hint for aging raptors) or plumage details. When I watch the bird through the spotting scope with 40x or 60x magnification, I feel much closer to the bird and the birding experience is much better.
If you’ve been leaving your scope at home too often lately, you might think about using it more often in the future. Beside my Swarovski ATS 80 HD 20-60×80, I also have the wonderful Nikon Fieldscope 50mm ED (with 13x-40x eyepiece). The Nikon scope is very light (about 500gramms) and very sharp. When walking long distances, the Nikon has a clear advantage over the heavier Swarovski scope. The Nikon is also (a lot!!!) cheaper then the Swarowski if you want only one scope and don’t want to spend a lot of money.