More Bird Pics

Well I was pretty bored today, so I went and birded the lake north of our camp which seems to be a staging area for shorebirds. It is the only place I constantly see large flocks of shorebirds. The numbers of Stilt Sandpipers have increased with 6 juvenile and 1 adult present today. Long-billed Dowitchers continue as well, in lesser numbers than previous days. Only juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers remain, adults have been gone for qutie a while. Still a lot of Red-necked Phalaropes and a few Black-bellied Plovers, and very few Pectoral Sandpipers.

The Jaegers are doing well. I finally shot a decent picture of one of the full grown juveniles.

The 2 juvenile birds were flying around today, practicing aerial agility. They are getting pretty good!

I also spent some time playing with Arctic Terns. I can not seem to get a good shot of these guys. I'm guessing it the contrast between them and their environment. Whatever it is, I still can not get that "great" shot.

I splurged a little last night and ordered a new pair of binocular. My current bins (Swift Audubon HHS 8.5x44) are getting really trashed, with scratches so extensive on the lenses that it is affecting sharpness, brightness, contrast and overall image quality. There are even some "cloudy" areas that won't focus, and this just won't do. After EXTENSIVE deliberation between Nikon Monarch, Leupold Mojave, Bushnell Legened Ultra HD and a few others, I decided on a brand I had never heard of before... Zen-Ray. I have done extensive research into this company, and read as many possible user reports as I possibly could, and it seems they are legit. They are coming out with a new Zen-Ray Zen ED3, and with a ship date of August 1st, and my return home a few days after that, it was like a sign. Many user reviews of people who obviously know way more about binoculars than I claim they rival the alpha (Swarovski, Zeiss, ect) binocular lineup. They say the alphas are slightly better, but not to warrant an extra $1500. Anyway, time will tell, and I'll fill you in when I get them. Obviously, I'm both excited and nervous. With specs such as ED glass, field of view 426/1000, dielectic prisim coating, phase correction, water and fog proof, it has me drooling.
http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/binoculars/zened3/zened3-8x43.html