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Nod

Nod

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Nod (UK)
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First I must come clean and admit that I'm not a bird photographer - I don't have the patience to sit in hides and would rather have the memories of our feathered friends' behaviours than prints, however this might change after next weekend since our conservatory will be up and finished (at long last!).

We're very lucky in that we live right on the edge of the city, a hundred yards or so from open fields and hedges so we have a reasonable selection of avian visitors to our feeding station which is kept well stocked with a variety of feeds including whole seeds, "no mess" mixes, fat balls, mealworms, hulled sunflower seeds and chopped peanuts.

Regular visitors (on an almost daily basis) include Sparrows (both tree and house), Pigeons (mainly town hybrids), Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Blue, Coal, Great and Long Tailed Tits, Blackcaps, Robins, Magpies and Starlings and we also get occasional visits from Wrens, Goldcrests, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Collared Doves, Wood Pigeons and an oportunistic Sparrowhawk has been known to have a go! Siskins, a solitary Green Woodpecker and a Squirrel have also been seen but only rarely.

Since the feeding station is about 4 metres from the conservatory, I reckon I should be able to get some half decent shots with just a 200mm lens on an FF body but could resort to a longer (and slower) 300mm if I need the extra reach. The 720mm available on my bridge will almost certainly be overkill (35mm EFL).

Any recommendations for a relatively close focussing spotting scope?

BTW, any members who would like a go will be made welcome - bring your own bikkies though.
 
could the tree sparrows be Dunnocks (or hedge sparrows as they are also known)?
A very nice garden list you have,but a spotting scope for birds @4meters? it is the 1st of April right?
 
Well, we get all 3 species at the same time and I do know the difference between a hedge accentor (Dunnock), and both types of sparrow. The cheek markings on the tree sparrow give it away.

Oh, the spotting scope will also get used away from the house but the close focussing would be nice!
 
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Nod said:
Well, we get all 3 species at the same time and I do know the difference between a hedge accentor (Dunnock), and both types of sparrow. The cheek markings on the tree sparrow give it away.
Click to expand...

In that case you really should get in contact with Steve Waite, the Devon County Bird Recorder - recorder@devonbirds.org - because Tree Sparrows are even rarer in that part of the world than in the rest of the country.
 
Nod we have an abundance of Tree Sparrows at Belvide

Male & Female look similar, both have the russet brown cap, if your bird looks like this then it needs reporting (this is one of last years youngsters that is why it has the yellow on the bill).

221_057.jpg
 
Difficult to recommend a scope because it has to be right for you so you'd need to try out a few.

I suggest deciding on a budget and then checking out some local bird reserves. Some do binocular and scope days where you can try various models.

My scope came from a branch of In Focus - http://www.at-infocus.co.uk/ . If all of their shops are like the one at London Colney (spent loads of time there, try lots, no pressure to buy) then your nearest branch would not be a bad place to start.

If you want some birds to come really close try some live meal worms. They are not cheap but robins in particular (but others too) will come very close (eg inside the house) to get meal worms.

Dave
 
If I manage to get a snap of the tree sparrow I will get in touch with Steve Waite but they should have been in the occasional list rather than the regular one.

We do feed mealworms but the dried variety rather than live - since the starlings have discovered them, I'm a little loath to spend too much on the live ones when all our visitors seem happy enough with the dried! Don't want the birds too close anyway, although the cat would disagree...

I've now left the bridge camera out of its case and near the patio doors so I can get snaps quickly. Once the conservatory's finished, I'll possibly leave the SLR on a tripod with the 70-200 fitted and aimed at the station and see how I get on. Snapped some house sparrows and a starling earlier but not shrunk them for web use yet - will get a few more assorted species and do a batch.

Had a play with a couple of cheapish spotting scopes earlier but neither was particularly good or focussed particularly close - will have a better hunt next time I'm in town. Unfortunately, my binoculars can't be 'pod mounted - they do focus close enough!

London Colney? Some friends used to live there and I used to "pop up" to the Crooked Billet in Colney Heath on a fairly regular basis many moons ago (when it was a biker pub). Happy times (apart from too many funerals)!
 
If the birds in your garden like dried meal worms that is great. I wish the birds around here liked then, but any dried meal worms get ignored.

Also understand the cat problem. Before we adopted our cat we had a robin that would come in the kitchen window, take a meal worm and then fly out the back door and had great tits and robins hopping around the conservatory floor from time to time - can't do that now.

Dave
 
Nod said:
Unfortunately, my binoculars can't be 'pod mounted - they do focus close enough!
Click to expand...

Binoculars will usually focus closer than a scope, many years ago there were several universal clamp style brackets available for mounting binoculars on a tripod, aimed more for astronomy use, may be an option

Something on this page maybe LINK

Or something like this LINK


.
 
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