The Kowas have a sighting ridge on the side that works really well when you
get confused by an 'all-the-same' background. Otherwise pick an obvious
reference and orient from there....ie.... 6 feet at three o'clock from the
obvious dead branch. Takes some practice, though. If you are a
'tree-birder' in comparison to a shorebird birder a 45 degree eye-piece
gives the neck a nice rest. One day someone will invent a straight thru
scope that converts to 45 (how about 90 degree?) viewing!!

Bob
taylorrt at geocities.com




At 08:51 PM 10/19/97 -0700, you wrote:
>
>
>On Sun, 19 Oct 1997 KGabr22015 at aol.com wrote:
>
>> Santa wants to give me a spotting scope for Christmas. I know nothing about
>> such things and he doesn't either. Can anybody recommend something
moderately
>> priced and suitable for a dilettante birder? Also, where in the Seattle
area
>> would be the best place to shop for such? Many thanks.
>>
>Yo, Irene---
>
> I don't remember the name of the guy who was at last summer's
> picnic who had the medium priced scope..had a nice side sight
> that located the *target* nicely so when you looked through
> the regular eye piece it was right on the bird..I recall thinking
> it was reasonably priced..and worked really well.
>
> do you happen to know who it was?
>
> Tom
>
> perhaps the culprit himself is on line and can respond to
> to this request..
>
>