Bird Binoculars

Without much doubt or debate, I would declare Swarovski Binoculars as the best of the best binoculars around. Perhaps the 10X42 EL model is most popular among Swarovski fans. I like the 8X42 model. It has a slightly wider field of vision. 

According to Binoculars.com 

• These binoculars are highly reviewed
• The benchmark to how all other binoculars are judged
• Amazing light transmission, contrast and natural color
• Extremely lightweight and perfectly balanced
• Now includes the Swarovski SnapShot camera adapter  

When I get ready to really start taking bird photos this is the path I think I will take.  Not likely that something else will outclass these by then! 

Red Phalarope (called Grey Phalarope in Europe).  Phalaropus fulicarius this is definitely a water bird.Video is from YouTube by munchbirdvids. Learn more about the Gray/Red Phalarope here.

Whoever heard of a Phalarope? Well, John James Audubon saw his first ones in 1806 along the Ohio River. Gray and black and white in their winter colors, he watched them swimming near the margins of the marshy area and eating grassy seeds. As was custom of the time, he shot some to eat and illustrate and showed them to his friend Alexander Wilson ( for whom one species is named).

These little shorebirds are something like sandpipers but they spend more time swimming around like coots. They have lobed toes like coots, too. They are common in Alaska and where they are abundant they are rather tame.

They eat insects, water invertebrates and seeds, depending on the season and their location. Phalaropes are ground nesters and vulnerable to many predators like foxes, owls, weasels and gulls.

At sea, they often accompany other birds and seem to benefit from the foods that are stirred up by whales and sea-faring ducks. Those are the times that really good binoculars(like Nikon 16X50) are most valuable for viewing these charming little birds swimming in circles.