leicabirding-blog

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Natural majesty

Text & Images by Jeff Bouton

Leica V-Lux (typ 114) point & shoot camera, Slo-mo video – iPhone through Leica APO Televid spotting scope

It doesn’t seem to matter what your passion is, different geographic areas always offer new, exciting discoveries & experiences. If you’re a foodie there are amazing new restaurants to experience, and the history buff can always find amazing historic factoids in…

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Background Check

A lot of digiscoping tips and discussions center around gear and technique.  These are certainly key considerations but once your rig is dialed in it is important to also spare some thought for composition.

On 3 January 2015 my wife mentioned that a Sharp-shinned Hawk was out in the back yard.  While this isn’t too unusual around here in the winter, this time the bird was out in the open on a…

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Bird Thoughts on a Sunday Afternoon

Bird Thoughts on a Sunday Afternoon

Canyon Wren captured with a Leica V-LUX (type 114) camera

Yesterday Athena and I had the opportunity to observe and compare Canyon Wrens & Rock Wrens. They are so awesome!

Rock Wren taken with the Leica V-LUX

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Canopy Tower - Pure Panama Magic

Canopy Tower – Pure Panama Magic

After our Darién adventures, Athena and I returned to the Canal Zone near Gamboa to join the amazing tour group assembling at the Canopy Tower for the Eagle Optics / Leica Sport Optics tour here. Representing Eagle Optics, was our friend Ben Lizdas whom I’ve birded with and chased many life birds with at MANY birding festivals all across the US over the past decade!

Ben Lizdas (right) enjoys a…

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Leica Boosts the Highest Peregrine Count

Leica Boosts the Highest Peregrine Count

With yet another world record for the highest count of “Falco peregrinus” during a single count season, the Florida Keys Hawkwatch continues securing its place as the Peregrine Falcon Migration Capital of the World.

Every fall season, hawkwatchers flock to the southernmost chain of islands along the Atlantic Flyway to participate in the Florida Keys Hawkwatch (FKH), a project with origins…

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Snowy Showoff: Bill-vibrating behavior

Snowy Showoff: Bill-vibrating behavior

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 39th Western Field OrnithologistsConference in San Diego, California.  Among the wonderful places I birded was the San Dieguito River Estuary in Del Mar.  Its banks and mud bars hosted a pleasing variety of shorebirds (Pacific Golden-Plover, anyone?), and landscaped properties bordering the river teemed with bird life.  But my personal highlight of the…

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Day 2 - in the Darién

Day 2 – in the Darién

Canopy Camp rising

The following morning I was so excited to continue my all too brief explorations that I was up before the dawn. A close-by Black & White Owl called from the darkness of the woods that lay just in front of the railing of my personal deck. My attempts to view this stunning bird failed as it always seemed to move ahead of me through the forest, but I was rewarded for my efforts…

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My Big Sit

by Jennie Duberstein

When I got up last Sunday morning I checked my phone to see my Facebook feed full of people embarking on their Big Sit. I’d been out of town for the last week, so this was not on my radar. I thought about it for a minute or two and made a spur of the minute decision to do my own Big Sit down the road at the Coronado National Memorial Visitor Center.

If you haven’t done a Big…

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more from day 1 - Canopy Camp, Darién province, Panama

more from day 1 – Canopy Camp, Darién province, Panama

After my restful period lounging on the deck, it was time to explore some of the surrounding areas in the nearby Yariva Forest. We had to drive the slow pot-holed road again meaning slower speeds as we passed a neat mix of habitats. First with small agricultural plots which provided additional views of Spot-breasted Woodpeckers mixing with more common widespread tropical species like Roadside…

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Birding at 15,000 Feet: A Colorado Chronicle

Birding at 15,000 Feet: A Colorado Chronicle

Guest Post by young birder Evan Barnard

The adventure began at the Denver airport baggage claim area, where I first met camp director Jennie Duberstein and fellow campers for 2014 Camp Colorado. The American Birding Associationruns the camp, which is sponsored by Leica Sport Optics. After loading up the van we immediately found the first bird of trip, a Western Kingbird, in the airport parking…

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Advice for Young Birders

Advice for Young Birders

by Jennie Duberstein

I get asked a lot for recommendations for young birders interested in working with birds. Where should I go to school? What should I study? How do I prepare myself for a career in bird conservation? Most young birders are already on a great track. They involve themselves with local conservation or birding groups. They  have volunteer experience leading trips or working on…

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Day in the Darién

Day in the Darién

the route from Canopy B&B in Gamboa in the Canal Zone East to Canopy Camp in the Darién Province

On our first full day in Panama, Athena & I got the opportunity to go and see the Darién Province, we’d have to wake early and move fast but we could go if we wanted. Having heard about the new Canopy Camp for some time (open only this year but in planning for many previous), I of course jumped at the…

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Panama - Canopy Tower & the Canal Zone day 1

Panama – Canopy Tower & the Canal Zone day 1

  final approach – destination Panama!

After four hours, we finally began our descent, crossing over Panama’s mountainous interior from the Caribbean to the Pacific. We banked over the ships lined up waiting for passage through the canal, looping the modern cityscape of Panama City and lined up for final approach at PTY from over the water to the SW. On approach we noted many Frigatebirds & Brown…

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Athena's View

Athena’s View

As most know, the 7×42 Ultravid HD boasts the widest field of view of any in the Leica line. So not surprisingly, Athena, our 7×42 Wandering Ultravid, embraces a broader view of the world as well.

Athena enjoying the view from atop the famed Canopy Tower

Unlike Travis the Traveling Trinovid that only traveled domestically in the US, Athena recently visited our partners at the Canopy Family in…

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Wordless Wednesday

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Athena Update - field report from AZ

Athena Update – field report from AZ

At the time of this writing, Athena had cracked 500 species seen in the US and counting. The total as of Friday night was 509 with 2 days to go!

Varied Bunting, male

In all 32 species have been added thus far in the great state of Arizona as part of the Tucson Bird & Wildlife Festivalsponsored by Tucson Audubon Society. This is perhaps not surprising since this area has so many specialty birds…

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Dispatches From the Field: 2014 Camp Chiricahua

Dispatches From the Field: 2014 Camp Chiricahua

by Jennie Duberstein

I’m writing this in the common room at the Southwestern Research Station in Portal, Arizona. Pish & Twitch, the duo of Brendan Murtha and Caleb Frome (with support from Will Von Herff)  are serenading 2014 Camp Chiricahua with a performance of Migrants Go By, their birdy parody to the tune of American Pie.

My, my watch these migrants go by Dropping in, dropping out, cross the…