What features do binoculars for birding in the mountains need?

As the terrain varies, so do the demands placed on a binocular. Will you typically bird in the heavily wood mountainside, or the rocky slopes? Mountain birding is challenging for several reasons:

     1. As you gain elevation,
     the ecosystems change with
     different plants, terrain, and wildlife.

     2. Because of changing terrain and views,
     wildlife can be very close or extremely distant.

     3. The best mountain birding requires trail hiking
     where binocular weight is a prime concern.

     4. High elevation and active hiking make it
     difficult to hold binoculars steady.

Binoculars for Use on Heavily Wooded Mountainsides
Heavily wooded mountainsides with thick canopies have many shaded areas and indirect lighting. Because of poor lighting, binoculars with large apertures of 40-50mm will provide brighter images with better color fidelity. This is especially important if you use your binoculars to view details on woodland songbirds, warblers, and hummingbirds.
     Note how these fairly small birds move about frequently when feeding or avoiding predators. Finding and keeping them in sight is much easier through a binocular with a wide field of view. Binoculars with magnifications of 7x or 8x will provide enough power for identification and also have wider fields of view than binoculars of higher magnification. The ideal binocular for wooded mountainsides would be an 8x40 or 8x42 binocular.

Binoculars for Use On Rocky Slopes
If you climb rocky slopes, you'll often find yourself in the brushy vegetation that is home to various finches, warblers and hummingbirds. Here again, binoculars with wider fields of view are easier to use. Choose either an 8x or 10x binocular, but decide if the wide field of view or greater magnification is most important to you. Long views of raptors and perching birds are best seen with a 10x42 or 10x50 binocular. The higher magnification of a binocular also makes it easier to identify birds (especially hawks) at greater distances .
     If you are doing a lot of active hiking, the weight of your binoculars is of primary importance. A compact binocular may not gather as much light as a larger configuration, but it is a more enjoyable companion on the trail.

Note: You can do a lot of birding with a compact set of binoculars, but you will find that they are less steady than full-size binoculars (heavier binoculars require more hand movement to create a shift in your view). A compact 8x binocular will provide you with steadier views than seen through 10x binoculars.


More about choosing binoculars.




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