I am just thoroughly delighted to announce the arrival of my brand spanking
new Leica APO Televid spotting scope with 20-60X zoom today from Eagle Optics.
The cost? '''...gulp...''' Oh well; why mess around?! :-) Good Lord! Look
what I've been missing!! I set it up pronto on the first bird to hit the
feeder, a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Whoaa -- not bad! And the perfect bird to
debut this fine piece of optics on since it was, afterall, *the* Red-breasted
Nuthatch back in that country hog yard pine grove so very long ago in
northwestern Missouri that launched me into the lifelong mania of 'serious'
birding. Up until that memorable cold November day decades ago, I had no idea
how diverse the bird world really was. And now look what's happened to me...
for better and yes, even sometimes for worse :-)).

Next, I shifted over to the flicker on the suet feeder. Amazing! Such
awesome detail; I never knew that a 'common' flicker *really* looked like
that! And that one was just a female! :-) Finally, I just set up my lawn
chair in the back yard and focused on the hummingbird feeder 15 feet away.
Talk about close focus with this baby! Soon a female Rufous was hovering
there happily sipping away while fully filling the field and showing all of
the most minute detail in utterly crisp glory in brilliant sunlight. Jeepers!
Outrageous! I can't stand it! Then out of the blue when I least expected it,
especially since I figured that I'd probably not be seeing another one around
here any time soon, a wee little female Calliope materialized and perched at
the feeder for a good minute or so in such complete and thoroughly exquisite
fine detail. Shimmering emerald green from the top of the head to the base of
the short dark tail, plain streaky white throat, slightly buffed sides &
flanks, short bill. This is the second Calliope here now in 3 days or maybe
it's the same one. Anyone else seeing Calliope Hummingbirds around locally?
BTW, all these assorted 'female' things are much more dazzling than I'd ever
given them credit :-)))

So, thanks everyone and to all who contributed to my quest and queries last
February in regards to spotting scopes. Quite a lot of research and testing
went into this grand final decision which I think I shall never soon regret.
At least now, the next time I go forth over to Eastern Washington next winter,
it will be nice to maybe stick some names to some of those little black dots
that were otherwise just little black dots out in the middle of the Columbia
River. Also, perhaps I can avoid any more wild goose (owl) chases like that
fiasco last December when I went dashing out -- no, wrong word --laboriously
trudging out across the deep snowy fields in the Okanogan to confirm what I
was virtually certain was a distant Northern Hawk Owl, only to discover that
it was something else (never mind what -- I'm too appalled to say). Had I had
this handy little gizmo then, I could have just remained in the comfy confines
of the car, in two seconds seen clearly that I *wasn't* looking at a Hawk Owl
and not wasted all that time and energy.

I don't know for sure if the extra quality of the APO version is really worth
the 2X price over the regular version. Maybe not really as both seem to be of
quite excellent quality, and I'm sure I could have easily learned to live with
the non-APO and probably never even think about the difference. What I do
need now though is a really good sturdy tripod and a decent car window mount.
I hope all this is not interpreted necessarily as a commercial endorsement,
but I was very pleased with the fast reliable service and the comparative
better prices through 'Eagle Optics' overall. I wish now that I'd had all my
wits about me after the 'Vancouver X-Files Incident' last November (scope,
tripod, bins, camera, etc., my life; stolen) and had maybe replaced the scope
right away. Varoom, varoom... look out world; here I come. I be a spy'n on
you. 8-))

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)