Celestron Big Year – 2 June 2016: Birding Naked

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I'm not ashamed to say it. There have been times when I'm afield and the conditions are just right that I have birded naked.

No, I don't mean "birded naked" like the Naked Bird Club in Finland whose members only count on their trip lists the birds they see while in the buff; I mean naked eye birding.

It doesn't happen often, of course; even at reasonably close range most birders like to get an even closer look at the bird they're seeing by using their binoculars. However at the recently concluded Biggest Week in American Birding, some of the birds - particularly and most astonishingly the warblers - were coming so close to the boardwalk railing at Magee Marsh that even with the six and a half foot close focus distance of my trusty Granite ED 7x33's they were still too close to get in focus.

I have to say, it is a truly remarkable treat to be able to watch Black-throated Green Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, and Northern Parulas at a distance of two or three feet! At one point, I took out my iPhone to see if I could record this amazing occasion on video. Surprising as it may seem, what you're seeing here is the unedited video of a Northern Parula, normally a bird that stays in the upper levels of the tree canopy, that was within an arm's length of me.

If you haven't already had the pleasure, perhaps one day the conditions will be just right and you'll have the opportunity to engage in a little "naked birding" yourself. And if you happen to be in Finland... well, as they say: what happens in Finland, stays in Finland.

Cheers and good birding to you.

John

 

Other articles of John's Big Year:

#CelestronBirding Big Year

Celestron Big Year - 9 January 2016: A Gentle Madness

Celestron Big Year - 4 February 2016: Tales of a Traveling Birder

Celestron Big Year - 11 February 2016: Swan Lake

Celestron Big Year - 14 February 2016: The Great Rainy Backyard Bird Count

Celestron Big Year - 25 February 2016: Not Veronica Lake

Celestron Big Year - 5 May 2016: Studying-up for Warblerstock

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