Observations from home

Recently I made a trip to the great white north. It was fun seeing gray skies and cold, snowy weather again, but I was happy to return home to the sunshine state! The plane south was full of winter visitants, and driving home from the airport I noticed that Florida license plates were (once again) in the minority. Ohio, Minnesota, Connecticut, and other points north were now the norm.

American Robins winter in large numbers in Florida.

As surely as these human "snowbirds" flock to the sunshine state, many common bird species call Florida their winter home as well. While not as sexy perhaps as tales of far flung adventures, sometimes it's fun to take a closer look at the common birds.... and none are more common (or at least noticeable) these days around Florida than American Robins. Their squealing calls can be heard everywhere as flocks fly overhead and feed in shrubs nearby.

In stark contrast to my Northern experience I became aware that while it's still technically winter in Florida, birds are definitely starting to act as if it were spring. Our first returning spring migrants (Purple Martin) returned on schedule in early January, and Swallow-tailed Kite should be reported any day now. Resident birds are singing and establishing territories, and some courtship is evident. Robins are getting into the act and singing occasionally as well even though they will not stick around to breed.

Putting out water is a great way to see the robins up close and personal, this adult male was digiscoped with a Leica D-Lux 2 camera through a Leica APO Televid spotting scope.

The robins move through the area in large, noisy flocks finding and eating ripe berries mostly but they will also root for insects on lawns and will come to the bird baths for water. They aren't an unusual species, but when 100 or more are on your lawn it does offer you the opportunity to study subtle plumage differences between the varying ages and sexes at close range.

American Robin in Brazilian Pepper. digiscoped with Leica D-Lux2 and APO Televid scope

A preferred food source is the invasive exotic plant Brazilian Pepper. The robins come through in waves and strip the ripe berries from December through March. After a day or two, the large flocks have typically cleaned out the berries in your area and move on to another neighborhood, park, etc. It's nice to see that the introduced exotic actually offers some benefit in the way of food, but unfortunately the plant's seeds will get dispersed further (see below)and more native habitats will be obliterated by this incredibly hearty shrub.

recycled Brazilian Pepper fruit

The Curse of Viera...

My job offers me fantastic opportunities to travel and bird. When travelling across the country to the many bird festivals, local rarities are always a buzz among participants. To me, this is just a bonus... The icing on the cake, among the exciting parade of the many different local specialty species I'm lucky enough to see at these events! I'm typically very lucky when I chase one of these local rare birds, and over the last few years it seems I've been able to easily document most of these events. These aren't my best images and likely won't appear on any magazine covers, but they provide me with a digital keepsake as memory of the sighting as well as offering irrefutable evidence for local records committees and others wanting to document the occurrence of these rare birds!

Here's a handful of recent examples:

pair of Curlew Sandpipers near Cape May , NJ

just before the World Series of Birding, May 2006

Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope & D-Lux 2 camera

immature male Rose-throated Becard
Santa Ana NWR, February 2005

adult male Tufted Duck, Vallejo, CA, Jan 2006
Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope & D-Lux 2 camera

female Aztec Thrush , Madera Canyon, AZ, August 2006
Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope & D-Lux 2 camera

Of course there is at least one spot where it appears my luck just doesn't work, Viera Wetlands in Brevard County, Florida. I first noticed it in November 2002, I had just led trips for the Spacecoast Bird & Wildlife Festival. I'd been there all week and had led trips to Viera, but even as I was driving out of town an odd bird was spotted. It was about 5 days before I finally stopped to see what had transpired in FL birding online and I scanned the post titles in turn. The first few read, "Violet-Green Swallow at Viera...", then switched to, "Odd swallow at Viera...", and finally came the post with images attached. I opened the images and was in shock!

I don't remember exactly what happened next, but I vaguely remember running out to the car with binocs in one hand and my young son in the other. We arrived back on the central east coast some three hours later, and pulled up to the crowd of happy birders. "We just saw the bird last a few moments ago. It will be back!...." Unfortunately they were wrong. That was the last sighting of the first and only Mangrove Swallow in the US and I missed it by minutes! This was the way the Viera curse came to be. In the years since, there were other incidents but none so dramatic as this.

Given the history, it wasn't surprising that when I decided to finally chase the female Masked Duck that had been so reliable here for over a month, that things would go wrong. On my first attempt near the end of December, I hit traffic and darkness fell about 30 minutes before my arrival. I wasn't worried though because I had to be back in Orlando two weeks later so I could try again then. Well needless to say I dipped... The bird was last seen about 10 days before my visit.

Despite my bad luck though, I always enjoy my visits to this wonderful water reclamation area. The marshes are always loaded and you are afforded wonderful views of many great birds including some of neat Florida specialties. This morning was no different with >45 species seen including: Crested Caracara, Purple Gallinule, and Limpkin among others. If you get the chance to visit the area I highly recommend it, and for those signed up for the field trips here at next week's Spacecoast Bird & Wildlife Festival, never fear I'm not leading any of the trips here! ;)

adult Red-shouldered Hawk "Florida race" (Buteo linneatus extimus) - note the grayish head and pale orange breast/belly barring as compared to other races of Red-shouldered Hawk. Viera Wetlands, FL, January 2007

co-operative Limpkin, Viera Wetlands, Jan 2007

Christmas Bird Count Florida style

American Alligator digiscoped on Zellwood CBC, FL - Leica D-Lux 3 through APO Televid 77

No snow, no ice... a bit different from my memories of Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) of old, but that's just one of the things I've come to accept since moving to the deep south over 8 years ago from Fairbanks, Alaska. I spend so much time travelling and birding across the country in my job with Leica, it seems I rarely bird here in FL any more. When I'm home, I typically want to be AT home. One Florida birder even told me recently, "Oh, I thought you'd moved away..."

However, one "no miss" Florida birding event for me is the annual Zellwood/Mt. Dora CBC. In its first year this incredible birding locale set a new record high species count for an inland count circle (near 180 species of birds seen)! Like other Florida locales the wading birds are well represented, but the Green Heron depicted below offered a unique reminder of how often we SEE a species but don't take the time to really study it.

Green Heron (subadult?) digiscoped on Zellwood CBC, FL - Leica D-Lux 3 through APO Televid 77

In my 20+ years of birding I've observed countless Green Herons, and I posted this one on my Flickr photo sharing site as an immature Green Heron. Fortunately it didn't take long for someone to call me on this and ask if this wasn't an adult. This forced me to go back and take a closer look. Yeah, most of the feathering on the body is more in line with adult plumage, but the older worn feathers on the upper wing coverts resemble that of an immature, showing a sclloped edge with the additional white spotting. Hmmmmm...... At any rate, this was a very real reminder of just how much I don't know this very common bird and one of the things that makes birding so much fun!

Purple Gallinule winter adult digiscoped on the Zellwood CBC 22 Dec 2006

One of the bonus birds and one of my contributions to the count was this co-operative Purple Gallinule. Since it was posing so nicely I had to rattle off a couple pictures. Note how in winter the bill and head coloration is very drab and greatly reduced. This is not well depicted in many field guides.

immature Red-shouldered Hawk watches intently as I grab a quick pic!

The Zellwood area is well known as a raptor hotspot. The first documented FL records for Rough-legged & Ferruginous Hawks were found here, and a female Eurasian Kestrel spent most of January 2002 here to the delight of hundreds of birders. This winter was no exception and even though there were no Eurasian Kestrels, the spectacle is amazing. At one point, I could spin sround and count >30 individual raptors all perched or flying low over the fields: Red-tailed & Red-shouldered Hawks, American Kestrels, Northern Harriers, Cooper's Hawk, and Bald Eagles.

Eastern Phoebe digiscoped on 2006 Zellwood CBC

Leica D-Lux 3 camera and APO Televid 77 spotting scope

The flycatcher spectacle at Zellwood also is a bit different from my northern experiences. To date since 1998, I've personally seen 10 different species of tyrant flycatchers in the count circle! The main reason for this high count is a winter Kingbird roost that regularly attracts dozens (sometimes over 100) of Western Kingbirds, and lesser numbers of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers each evening in winter. For at least 5 years now a Cassin's Kingbird has been seen joining these birds irregularly. Rare Ash-throated Flycatchers are found alongside the ubiquitous Eastern Phoebes in weedy fields each year, and a Least Flycatcher or two is typically spotted in the hedgerows and woods edge as well. Rare flycatchers seen in years past included a single Gray Kingbird that sat by day with a lone Tropical Kingbird, I can still picture the stunning male Vermilion Flycatcher that was around pre-digiscoping one year, but the mega-rarity of the Zellwood CBC flycatchers was the Fork-tailed Flycatcher present for most of December 2005. This was the first time this rare Central/South American species had ever been recorded on a US CBC!

For those in FL at the end of the month you can join trips to the Zellwood area through the Spacecoast Bird & Wildlife Festival. (another FL "NO MISS" event for me, come visit and we can do some digiscoping!)

http://www.nbbd.com/fly/

What is a "DIGISCOPE"?....

Never heard of digiscoping? It's the process of coupling a digital camera (digi-) to a spotting scope (-scoping) to photograph distant subjects. Sounds simple, right?!?...

Most digiscope set ups like the one above feature a spotting scope,

digital point & shoot camera, and some sort of adapter.

Leica APO Televid 77, Leica D-Lux 3 camera, and Leica Digital Adapter 2

... Right, with today's more sophisticated cameras and a wide array of accessories it is simple, but in the not so distant past, many found digiscoping both difficult and frustrating.

Although no one can agree on the exact instant digiscoping began, all stories are similar. Somewhere a desperate, lone birder was confronted with some mega rarity. Wanting desperately to be able to prove this rare sight, the individual pulled a small camera out of their pocket, held it to the scope's eyepiece and prayed! To the surprise of all, it worked.

Early digiscoping pioneers faced a steep learning curve trying to figure out what did and did not work, and early failures outnumbered successes. These failed attempts were due in part to field craft, but there was also a lack of suitable equipment early on. As a result, many folks who attempted digiscoping in the past have written it off as a lesson in futility.

One difficulty was finding ways to couple the camera to the eyepiece, and early innovations from users included a wide assortment of plastic cups, PVC pipe fittings, lens caps, and enough duct tape to make even MacGyver and Red-Green envious! The good news for those less handy individuals out there is that most major manufacturers NOW offer branded solutions for easy mounting of camera to eyepiece.

Leica Digital Adapter 2 allows quick coupling of camera & scope.

Early digital p&s cameras that were favored by digiscopers featured extremely slow shutter response. This lag was so extreme that it seemed you could whistle two bars of your favorite tune in the time between pressing the shutter release and when the image was actually captured. Plus the LCD view screens were often smaller than a postage stamp, offering lo-resolution, tiny, dark subjects. This led to many a missed opportunity like the "oh so close" example below, and many images that were improperly focused.

Extreme shutter lag of preferred digiscoping cameras from even 5 years ago, led to missed opportunities in digiscoping.

Today's modern point and shoots offer near real time response and large, bright, high resolution view screens making digiscoping easier and more fun. Realize, of course, that when I say, "today's modern..." I mean that quite literally. Each successive digital p&s camera generation may roll out as quickly as every 8 months, so even a 4 year old camera may pale in comparison to current models in these two areas. As a result, many current models respond faster, offer superior resolution, and offer view screens that allow you to easily assess focus in the field.

Some of the MOST important features in a digiscoping camera (IMHO) include:

• 4x or less optical zoom
• fast shutter response (microprocessors continually get faster and smaller)
• large, bright screen makes focusing easier

There are MANY others but I'm already getting finger cramps, so we can save more for subsequent entries. I will close by saying if you've never tried digiscoping, give it a try but be warned it's addicting. If you tried in the past and were disappointed in your results, think about trying it again. Newer, more sophisticated adapters and cameras make success rates much higher than they were even a few years ago. This makes digiscoping simple and fun, which is part of what we all love about birding!

Sandhill Cranes await the dawn at Bosque Del Apache NWR near Socorro, NM, USA

digiscoped Nov 2006, Leica APO Televid 77 & D-Lux 3 camera

My trip to Germany

Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) photographed by Jeff Bouton

Digiscoped through a Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope with 20x wide angle eyepieceTaken with Leica D-Lux3 camera, near Giessen, Germany 12/9/06

It was my first trip to Europe P.B. (post birding) and I knew I wouldn't have much free time on this work trip, so I kept my birding equipment to a minimum: 2 pairs of binoculars, a spotting scope and tripod, three different eyepieces, my digiscoping adapter, and 2 different cameras (complete with 4 batteries and 5 memory cards).

I know what you're thinking, "THAT's LIGHT?!?..."

As a product specialist to the birding market for Leica Sport Optics, my job usually requires I carry nearly our full product line and all of the accessories as I travel from bird festival to bird festival throughout the country and beyond! This usually includes as many as 13 binoculars , two telescopes, brochures, tablecloths, backdrop, lamps, handouts, etc. So yes, by comparison this was light. This was also a very different type of trip. My usual trip involves going to some of the greatest birding destinations at the peak time to see the greatest variety of birds. HO, hum... someone has to do it! ;)

This trip was so different because it was a first opportunity for me to visit Leica's headquarters in Germany to see first hand where our product is designed and manufactured, since I accepted the position in 2004. More importantly though this trip provided an opportunity to learn more about and celebrate Leica's 100th anniversary of manufacturing binoculars! In early December we debuted our anniversary show complete with displays of historic binoculars and sport optics innovations from the past 100 years. Some really interesting stuff...

Of course I'd be lying if I said the birds weren't a highlight for me, and those who know what a birdbrain I am would know I was lying if I said otherwise!

Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinniculus) photographed by Jeff Bouton
Digiscoped through a Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope with 20x wide angle eyepiece
Taken with Leica D-Lux3 camera, near Giessen, Germany 12/9/06

Jet lagged, and worn out from a sleepless flight, I was perked up by my first life bird viewed out the plane window as we taxied to our gate at the Frankfurt airport. A Common Buzzard perched just off the taxiway! More would come as my transport whizzed NW toward Braunfels on the famed autobahn. I was trying my best to absorb glimpses of the birds I saw as we sped by: Common Woodpigeon, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Eurasian Kestrel.... "OOOH, what was that gull?"

Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) photographed by Jeff Bouton
Digiscoped through a Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope with 20x wide angle eyepiece
Taken with Leica D-Lux3 camera, near Giessen, Germany 12/09/06

Out my hotel window it continued: Great Tit, Blue Tit, Rook, Jackdaw, Common Chaffinch, European Greenfinch... Isn't birding grand?

Exhausted, I still couldn't sleep knowing life birds were just outside the door. So, I decided to take advantage of the waning light and walked down to the small pond I noted on my way in to town. As the sun fell below the hills, I was treated to one last highlight. A gorgeous male Red-crested Pochard sat in this tiny pool. A fantastic way for me to finish my first day in Germany!

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) photographed by Jeff Bouton
Digiscoped through a Leica APO Televid 77 spotting scope with 20x wide angle eyepiece
Taken with Leica D-Lux3 camera, Braunfels, Germany 12/9/06

Welcome!

Welcome to the Leica Birding Blog.

My name is Jeff Bouton and I am a product specialist for Leica, US in the birding and naturalist markets. In that role I get to travel to birding, nature, and outdoor events all across North America.

I hope to share images, stories, and digiscoping tips with you here on a regular basis.