2013-06-30

First Impressions of the Swarovski ATX Spotting Scope

I have the opportunity of testing both the 65 mm and 85 mm Swarovski ATX spotting scope. As soon as they arrived I went outside and digiscoped a few birds at my feeder. It was late afternoon/evening, and the sun was coming from slightly behind and to the left. Considering this I think these shots aren't too bad.

Eurasian Blue Tit
Eurasian Blue Tit

Female Eurasian Bullfinch
Female Eurasian Bullfinch

Female Eurasian Blackbird
Female Eurasian Blackbird

Male Eurasian Blackbird
Male Eurasian Blackbird

A few days later I went to the local lakeshore and got these shots under rather windy conditions.

Song Thrush
Song Thrush

White Wagtail
White Wagtail

Still a few days later I was lucky enough to discover Austria's rarest woodpecker, the White-backed Woodpecker. Both the male and female were feeding their young. In this shot the male's head is a little fuzzy, but they stopped coming after a few minutes, so I couldn't get a better shot.
Male and juvenile White-backed Woodpecker

Here's a video of the young at the nest, also digiscoped.


German-language version of this blog post

2 comments:

  1. Those are amazing photos. I love the way they're looking at you. How far away were you?

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    1. Thanks. For the ones in my yard, I was about 30 feet away. The trick there is to get far enough away that the bird isn't bigger than the frame! For the ones at the lakeshore I was about 50 feet away. And for the woodpecker I was about 100 feet away.

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