The Zen Birdfeeder

Jupiter Shines in the Night Sky

Jupiter is putting on a show this month and if you have a spotting scope or even a pair of binoculars, you can take it in.

It begins shining brightly in the southeast sky beginning around 9:30pm, and viewing it through a pair of average birding binoculars tells you this isn't just any star in the sky.  Even at only 8x magnification, Jupiter shows as a disc in the sky.

Up your magnification to the 15x or greater of a spotting scope and you'll see it even clearer and 4 of its moons may also be seen.  The photos here are digiscoped images of Jupiter.  They're not the clearest images, but remember, this object is 391 million miles away! 

When you click on the image to enlarge it, you can clearly see one of Jupiter's moon to the right, and another moon is to the left though dimmer.  When I viewed Jupiter yesterday, four moons were easily visible through the scope.  It's humbling to think that these are the four moons discovered by Galileo 400 years ago. 

"The largest planet in our solar system is a commanding presence for much of the year. It looks like an intensely cream-colored star, shining brighter than anything else in the night sky except the Moon and Venus. Jupiter is at opposition in mid-August, when it appears brightest for the year and remains visible all night. Late in the year it is visible only in the evening sky, dropping lower each night."
Source:  StarDate Online

Read more about Jupiter at Stardate.org.  Here's a link to a short movie telling us what to look for in the current night sky.

Digi-grosbeaks

After I had saved my Grosbeak Gallery post, I remembered that I had some Rose-breasted and Evening Grosbeak images that I had digiscoped all on one day in mid-July.  So I'll share them with you now.

I digiscope with an older Nikon Sky & Earth Series scope, 15-45x, 60mm objective lens. It's a smaller scope, but I like the close-focus capabilities of it. I spend most of my digiscoping time in the 15x zoom range. I dream of getting a new scope, but this one will do for at least a while longer. 

I use a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 with Carl Zeiss 3x zoom lens, 10.1 megapixel, and a large touch-screen LCD.  The Zeiss lens sold me on this camera, and the touch-screen LCD display is especially helpful when digiscoping.

I attach the camera to the scope with a Vortex Universal Digiscoping adaptor (small).  I often just leave my camera attached to the scope.  This keeps my digiscoping setup ready to go!

  

My tripod is an older Bogen 3001 and an old, cumbersome Manfrotto head.  I'm looking to replace that head with a better tripod head for digiscoping.  Any suggestions out there???

Give digiscoping a try!

Great Adirondack Birding Celebration June 6 - 8

The sixth annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration (GABC) is scheduled for June 6-8, 2008 at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) in Paul Smiths.
 

All programs, including field trips, are FREE. Registration is open for trips/programs by calling (518) 327-3000.

The 2008 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration will feature birding trips, lectures, workshops and the popular Teddy Roosevelt Birding Challenge. Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs will be there with a nice selection of binoculars and spotting scopes, including digiscoping set-ups.

2008 Schedule
Download the 2008 schedule. (A 119k pdf file)

The guest speaker at 7 p.m. Friday, June 6 will be Lang Elliott, the author of many book/CD packages, including Common Birds and Their Songs, Music of the Birds, and The Songs of Wild Birds. He is the owner of NatureSound Studio, which he created in order to celebrate the sounds of nature.

The keynote address at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 7 will be given by Miyoko Chu, author of "Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds." 

2008 Field Trips
Download the field trips list. (A 49k pdf file).  All field trips are FREE though registration is required at (518) 327-3000.

For more information about the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, contact Lydia Wright at (518) 327-3000.

Showing off Spotting Scopes

Last weekend, we had a booth at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Summer Expo.  We were there to introduce local outdoor enthusiasts to our Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop, especially our great optics selection.

We brought a great selection of binoculars by Eagle Optics, Vortex Optics, Stokes, and Leupold, and we introduced many show attendees to digiscoping, which is taking photos with a digital camera through a spotting scope.  The cardinal image below was digiscoped in my yard.

At the show, we highlighted two spotting scopes.  We showed the Vortex Skyline scope with the optional MK1 QR Digital Camera Adaptor. 

The scope has a fantastic 20x-60x magnification, and the 80mm objective lens ensures bright, sharp images.

The digital adaptor fits the Skyline scope (only) and provides a quick-release feature that allows you to switch from using the scope to digiscoping in seconds.  Watch this 5 minute video on YouTube showing the Skyline scope and digital adaptor in action.

The other scope we showed and are especially excited about is the Stokes Sandpiper scope. 


This scope was recently included in "Living Bird" magazine's Scope Quest 2008.  Here's a little of what they had to say:

"An even nicer surprise was the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper, which at $359 or less could be the best buy of any model we tested."

"With so many fine scopes on the market, choosing the right one should be easy and fun. Your selection should be based on budget— how much you can really afford—and the kind of birding you do most, or hope to do more of with a new scope. If you’re on a tight budget and want decent optics in the least expensive package, I’d try the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper."

Here's a link to the full Scope Quest 2008 article.  And read what Don & Lillian Stokes themselves have to say about the scope.

This is a great mid-priced scope that can help get you into the digiscoping hobby. Digiscoping with this scope is accomplished with the use of a Vortex Universal Digital Adaptor. 

The universal adaptor can work with just about any scope.  The adaptor seats the camera securely behind the scope eyepiece to provide the stability required to enhance your digiscoped images.

On Saturday, I conducted a seminar called "Capturing Images of Your Backyard Birds" to help attendees attract birds to their feeders and to take photographic or digiscoped images of the birds.

NOTE: If you know of a local group that would be interested in this presentation or other optics or bird-related presentations, please contact us at wbu@nycap.rr.com.

It was fun talking about binoculars, spotting scopes, and digiscoping to a whole new audience.  Stop by Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs to check out our great optics selection.