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Since the day that we announced the release of the EL42 Swarovision, people have been asking when a 32mm version of the Swarovision binoculars will be available. These are hard questions, because being really passionate about the binoculars we are developing (our babies), I really want to be able to blab about how cool they [...]

The results of the Swarovski Optik Digiscoper of the Year 2011 have just been published and once again, they show just what is possible with a telescope and everything from a cheap compact camera to a semi-pro DSLR. The winner this year was Tara Tanaka of the USA, with a stunning image of a Roseate [...]

Joining this story a bit late?  Click here for part one.  Click here for part two. … The delicious mojito that I gulped down with lunch had sufficiently numbed my poor, sore butt enough that getting back on the bike caused no pain.  We three insane Swarovski Triathlon Hawks made our way back through downtown [...]

Joining this story a post late?  Click here to read part 1. After our slow start to the day we were amazed when, while waiting for Clay’s flat tire to be repaired, Brian counted up our list and realized we had tallied 94 species.  We had thought we were doing much, much worse than that and our [...]

Higbee Beach.  The 2nd Avenue Jetty.  The Beanery.  The Meadows.  Hidden Valley.  The Hawkwatch Platform.  Any birder who has ever visited Cape May and many who have not will recognize these place names that are iconic in the birding world.  All of them were on the route of the Triathlon Hawks, our Swarovski Optik-sponsored team [...]

Birding, like so many other things, is bigger in Texas. How else can you explain the 312 species the Swarovski Optik “Fabulous EL Fifties” racked up in a frenetic five days to win the 2011 Great Texas Birding Classic Big Week? As their driver for the Fabulous EL Fifties’ phenomenal first 48 hours, I was well [...]

I’ve already regaled readers with the Swarovski Optik “Fabulous EL Fifties” heroic first and second days in the 2011 Great Texas Birding Classic 5-Day Event. More of the story remains to be told, but we needn’t wait to announce the foregone conclusion… Hail the victors (from left) Brian Bielfelt, David Simpson, Joel Simon, Andy Bankert, and [...]

Boykin Spring. Jasper Fish Hatchery. Marvin Dies. Sabine Woods. High Island. Boy Scout Woods. Smith Oaks. Bolivar Flats. Rollover Pass. The Galveston ferry. Sea Rim State Park. Any of these bodacious Upper Texas Coast bird watching destinations deserve hours if not days in order to be fully appreciated. To visit them all should be the work [...]

Bird races, as anyone who’s competed in one knows, can be big fun. The addition of a competitive component adds a thrilling edge of urgency to the normally relaxed act of chasing birds. Even sitting around watching birds can be charged with adrenaline when team pride is on the line. Of course, the fun of a [...]

Our friends at Swarovksi Optik just announced they would be providing further funding to support international conservation action for the critically endangered Sociable Lapwing through the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme as a BirdLife Species Champion. And they just released some phenomenal (at least that’s what Dale says) new binoculars. Isn’t Swarovski awesome? Stay tuned for more [...]

“The most outstanding binoculars I have ever seen” and “unexpectedly comfortable and stable”.  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this recently. Which is a good thing. It helps me sleep and puts my little heart at ease. The last couple of weeks have been nuts. The EL50 Swarovisions went in to [...]

The results of the 2010 Swarovski Digiscoper of the Year have just been released. A whole pile of stunning entries this year really made the judges lives difficult. But that just sounds like a cliche because pretty much every photo competition thing says that. But I found it really incredibly interesting to be behind the [...]

Why would Swarovski Optik decide to completely revamp their classic EL line of binoculars?  Birders all over the world can be forgiven for asking this question, as the original ELs are renowned for being a quality piece of glass.  The reason, of course, is that the engineers and mad scientists squirreled away in Swarovski Optik’s [...]

Dale Forbes, with whom I was lucky enough to travel to Kazakhstan this past May (that’s him in the sunset picture in the linked post), now works directly for Swarovski Optik.  As part of his job duties he has a series of videos up on YouTube in which he gives digiscoping tips (I know, I [...]

After our excellent time at the Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve we bid a fond farewell to its gorgeous grassy terrain and made our way to a location where Sociable Lapwing were known to breed.  Now, seeing Sociable Lapwing, a species that is critically endangered and thought to number roughly 11,000 individuals, would be a treat [...]

After our nice drive across the steppe from Astana we arrived at the location where we would eat lunch: the not-yet-opened Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve Visitor Center where we got a sneak preview tour to see what future visitors would see when visiting this amazing ecosystem.  The center wasn’t scheduled to open for a couple [...]

Our flight from Frankfurt to Astana landed at about 11 PM local time on Monday, May 11.  Having spent a mere twenty-four hours in Frankfurt after the flight from New York I had never really adjusted to the six-hour time difference and now I was a full twelve hours behind and not at all sleepy.  [...]

When my plane touched down in Frankfurt late in the morning on Saturday the 9th of May I was focused on finding my way to the shuttle that would take me to the Frankfurt Intercity Hotel where I would be staying for about twenty-four hours before getting back on a plane and flying to Kazakhstan.  [...]

The title of this blog post is a title I never anticipated using when I started blogging a little over two years ago but am I ever glad that I have the opportunity to use it!  And no, this is not some Borat-like put on, I actually am in Kazakhstan (I wrote this post several [...]

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging something happened at the end of 2008 that was simply so cool, so amazing, and so exciting that it has taken until now for 10,000 Birds to pick [...]