Birding Equipment

Bird Sighting of the Day: Coppersmith Barbit on Gadag Road.

I am currently using a Olympus Binocular DPSI 10 x 50 (got a great deal from an online shop,) Initially I was apprehensive that the binocular would be too heavy and that i would be unable to handle the hand shake. A couple of weeks of using the binocular and it feels great. I was pleasantly surprised by the results in low light situations.

My field guide is Salim Ali's Book Of Indian Birds 13th Edition.

In a couple of months, I want to add Pocket Guide To The Birds Of The Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett , Carol Inskipp & Tim Inskipp and Field Guide To The Birds Of Southern India by Richard Grimmett & Tim Inskipp.

I also use a digital camera, the Panasonic DMC FZ-28 along with a Olympus tele converter, the TCON 17 for taking photographs. Using the camera on field has underlined the fact that super zoom/prosumer cameras are not fit for bird photography. The culprit being the small sensor on these cameras.

At best the images can be used for record shots. Having said that I have to submit that at times I have been pleasantly surprised by the results given good conditions i.e great light, birds at close range and a steady hand day.

I confess that I have ambitions of doing some great Bird photography. Hmmmm any wishing well known to grant wishes of Canon 50D and/or at least a Sigma 170-500mm F5-6.3. OK getting back to reality... What I need is a Guru for photography and then bird photography.

I also use the following two sites extensively for identification of birds.

http://indiabirds.com/
http://indianaturewatch.net/

A sincere thanks to Mr Vijay Cavale for granting permission to link to his site (http://indiabirds.com/) to enable easy identification of birds mentioned in this blog.

Until next time.....lets bird.