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What are Birding Binoculars and Spotting Scopes?

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Every birdwatcher will need a means to see the image of a bird in a clear, precise, bright and focused image. To do so, birdwatchers need to have a spotting scope, birding binoculars or both in their arsenal of essential bird watching equipment.

But what are birding binoculars? Are they different from regular binoculars? Birding binoculars allow you to see birds at far away distances as clearly as if they were sitting in your hand. They are the same as regular binoculars in that they are essentially two telescopes sitting side-by-side, one for each eye. Differing from regular binoculars, the main job of birding binoculars is to find smaller, terrestrial images instead of large images that are far away and bring them to you in a clear, upright picture with a 7 to 10x magnification.

And what are spotting scopes? Spotting scopes are essentially telescopes with large objective lenses that allow you to view birds from a much farther distance than binoculars. They are much heavier than binoculars, but can be mounted onto a tripod or still carried with you if you don’t mind the load. They deliver magnifications between 20x and 60x under normal daylight conditions. Spotting scopes can have an angled eyepiece that is angled about 45 degrees, or a straight-through eyepiece that is in line with the body of the spotting scope. The choice is a matter of preference.

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