OPTICS - BINOCULARS & SCOPES

Optics can be an expensive, but often life-long investment.  It is important to understand how they work, decide which optics are best for you, shop wisely for a good deal, learn how to use them well, and take proper care of them.

CHOOSING BINOCULARS | CHOOSING A SCOPE | USING OPTICS | OPTICS CARE | OPTICS REPAIR

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Eagle Optics (Madison, Wisconsin):

A well-known optics distributor based out of Madison, Wisconsin.  Highly recommended and well-respected among the birding community.  Visit Eagle Optics through the IOS website and 5% of your purchase will go to the Illinois Ornithological Society.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

This software is great for keeping track of your bird sightings. Just enter your sightings (date and location) and quickly pull up your life list or any more selective lists (county, backyard, favorite site, year lists

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AviSys is a powerful database program that can keep track of all your birding lists in one easy to access place.  Just enter your bird sightings after an outing.  Then with AviSys you can pull up any list/information you want - Life list, year lists, backyard list, county lists, ect.

AUDIO CD'S

Tune your identification skills by learning the songs of birds that you hear.  Learning the calls and songs of rare and elusive birds will help you pick them out in the field.  These CD's can be found at specialty bird stores.

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If you are looking for a complete set of bird songs, I recommend this one.  This three CD set covers over 370 species of birds, often including multiple variations of each bird's song and various calls.  Each CD has 99 tracks (the current limit for audio CD's) allowing quick access to each species.

COMMUNICATION

These items are helpful when carpooling or multiple groups of birders need to relay sightings.

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Most birders recommend the Motorola Talkabout two-way radios over other brands.  They seem to provide the clearest, farthest reaching signal compared to other brands that claim similar ranges.  "Most models are tuned to the same compatible frequencies, but some models may have different frequencies assigned to the same numbers (i.e., code 22 may not be the same on your radio as on mine)."

Look for an FRS model (FRS/GMRS models MAY also work if the FRS range has at least 11 channels and 22 subcodes) with at least 12 channels and 22 subcodes (also known as privacy codes).

The birding community in Illinois has adopted Channel 11, subcode 22 (11/22) as a state-wide standard.  This frequency is also slowly being adopted by the N.A. birding community.  Visit the American Bird Association website for details.