Just got back from Costa Rica. Saw a male and female Quetzal. Also, many other birds. Monteverde Rain Forest is a birding paradise. Thought you Leica lovers out there would like to know that the guide used a dirty old well used pair of Leica Trinovids 8x42 and a Leica spotting scope. One birder asked what power the spotting scope was and he replied "I have no idea all I know is that it works!" The guide could spot a bird before anybody had any idea it was there. I would have never seen the Quetzal without him. It rains there almost ALL the time so the Nikon 8x32 SE was out. The Zeiss 8x32 FL's worked flawlessly. Had one great time in Costa Rica and I highly recommend it to all birders!
Dennis,
Thanks for yet another story about the "real" birder with a much used Leica Trinovid. Maybe if I went and beat mine up, somebody would mistake me for one.
Glad to hear you had a successful trip, and had a your FL along. Everybody says Costa Rica is really something.
Ron
Hi Dennis
Sounds like a great trip and its genuine real use feedback which i think can differ from pure optical evaluations
Often seen Costa Rica advertised for bird watching hols and fancied the idea maybe one day
As for the guide "seeing" stuff before everyone i guess it just goes to show what an advantage experience and being around an area for a while can give
We all know some folk can see much more with less so to speak
Many a time at local bird sactuary's and hides i have been left looking like a blundering newbie with my high quality bins whilst a seasoned watcher with 30 year old battered bins takes the plaudits and literally sees everything
Regards
RichT