in the old days - back in the 70s you could tell the 'Birders' from the' birdwatchers' because they used Zeiss bins ( 10x50 jenoptems if you were a student-10x40 dialyts if you were working) and had a scope in a leather case over their shoulder. Twitchers used whatever they could afford and most scopes really were telescopic - and for the most part not very good. Binoculars and scopes steamed up in the rain but you could take them apart and dry them out with a hairdryer:) RSPB reserves were open twice a week and you had to apply for permits a year in advance to get into Minsmere:) A life list of 250 or so was good!
Then in the 80s tripods arrived ( Not from Mars- that was War of the worlds) and everyone was using or aspiring to Leitz and Zeiss 10x40 binoculars. But real birders had Rain guards, cos they went out in the rain. They even went as far as green wellies- for the comfort :) Most Telescopic ( extendable) scopes didnt go well on tripods- the arrival of single extension Optolyth and interchangeable lens Kowa spotting scopes began to change things. It was hard to tell Birders from Twitchers from Birdwatchers by their bins- Maggie Thatcher gave us tax breaks that got us all new expensive gear
A year list of 250 was not unusual. 7x42 binoculars began to be popular in some regions.
In the 90s rubber armoured bins and scopes seemed to be the new Birder gear. Bins quadrupled in weight and resembled House bricks. Scopes got shorter with wider lenses- as did some birders . Even twitchers seemed well dressed after years of old jeans and tatty Barbour jackets and trainers. Birders discovered Gortex coats ( Barbour waxed cotton soon became an endangered species by the end of the decade) and carbon fibre tripods. Some were even seen in... fleeces! Everyone had rainguards as the decade closed but they were now evolving from rubber welly shapes into hinged plastic creatures. Swarovski entered the market by doing surveys on what birders wanted and getting top birders to help design the things- and the '42mm' appeared ...
In the 00s Gortex migrated south to footwear, even socks occasionally, and all the 'tex' fabrics multiplied and seemed to battle fleece to take over the world ! Bins got lighter and waterproof was almost standard, as was '42mm' and then '32mm' ; Suddenly everyone was a digi-scoping photographer with an adaptor made out of toilet roll and drain pipes.
In the 20-teens a new generation of bins arrived in the major optics camps and superior coatings meant that new designs of 8x32s were brighter than old type 8x42s. 100mm diameter scopes began to creep onto the market for the price of a small car. Bridge cameras seemed to be everywhere at the weekend. Digi-scoping adaptors for mobile phones appeared as megapixel rates went up.
And Lo! The advent of the smartphone did mean that you could carry a whole field guide in your pocket and a program that could ID from photographs-So birders no longer walked around looking Down At Heel they walked around looking down at Apps-Scopes got even larger (as Binoculars got smaller ) and Objective lenses got larger- 80mm + was not unusual , rubber armour was everywhere and the weight and price went skyward.
But the attachments got smaller- iphones attached ( at a price) to Scope eyepieces and produced better than passable images ( Photo is such a passe word in the 21st Century birding world)But then.... they needed extra power packs to keep the phones going all day- and field jackets bulged with Flash Gordon -type Power Boosters- TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!!!!!!!
Which is where... somewhere in the night lurked the Nocmiggers!
As darkness falls they Crouch in Princess Leia Headphones over a Pyrex dish scraped clean of cold porridge- aiming a microphone protected by bubblewrap into the sky :
These Sky scanning flight call afficionados add Crakes to their garden lists at 2am while they sleep!Emerging at dawn these cutting edge Birders metaphorically join newbie Bird table watchers at the breakfast table in matching PJs...!
and birding comes full circle. for the moment...........
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