The Binocular Blog - The Inducement

There are a few oft repeated words and sentences peppering the Woodcrawler's Journal for the last few years; that the blog is in coma and is in desperate need of revival! Unfortunately, it never happened. That was, till the Corona Lockdown progressed and my mind started revolting at the numbers of webinars clogging the net!

(As is usual, Pinks are Links)

I am now a member of so many avoidable and unavoidable Whatsapp groups (many of the former that I'd love to leave but stay on due to some close friends and associates) . One of the latter type of group was one I took the initiative of starting for a group of budding birders in my professional association. As Covid lockdown progressed the membership swelled and it became less of a birding group and more of an all-encompassing nature group. So when the suggestion was received I changed the name to KSOS Prakruthi Kootayma (nature association). It has now become a very active group with enthusiastic participation! Members with rudimentary knowledge of nature and wildlife wanted more. It has now become a forum that is educative and informative. So when someone requested information about binoculars it put a germ of an idea in my lethargic mind. Why not a blog on binoculars?! 

The early collection

Suddenly the Covid induced lethargy lifted and my fingers are flying over the keyboard again!

I had been sinking into quicksand induced by excessive influence of the feathered kind lately and all my efforts to enjoy nature around me had been effectively stalled by a neurotic obsession with them. My last blog too was a feeble attempt at shaking off the neurosis but it suffices to say here, without detailing, that I failed miserably. After a record 21 posts in 2015 the counts fell to single digits in succesive years of 2016 (3), 2017 (3), 2018 (1) and a measly 2 last year. One of the reasons besides the one that I mentioned in a previous blog of January 2019, is that my son and I haven't been to our favourite stomping grounds for a long while now. 2017 to 2019 being critical school years our regular trips to Bandipur and other national parks had dried up.

Now, with Covid afflicting all and confining us to our homes and immediate environment, new outlets have to be found for our frustration. What better than shaking of the stupor induced by excessive birding! I don't hold grudges and am known to smile at my worst enemies. So I forgive eBird! 

My fingers are now humming, tingling and finding new energy as they caress the keys on my laptop. 

For now, birds will take a backseat while I find something else to get obsessed about.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term 'gearhead'. I am one, no doubt! I was, and still am, adding to my photography gear. Then, when the birds got to me, I was collecting sound recording gear. Between that some where, I was unknowingly collecting binoculars too. I have owned six, of which I still have five and one (my Olympus 8x40) was donated to a driver in Bandipur! If I have owned six binoculars in my lifetime there must be something about them that induced me to spend hard earned money on them. 

Now is the time to make others spend their hard earned money instead of stashing it somewhere. After all, if we have to observe nature up close and intimately we need some thing to bring it to our noses! If you have read my experience correctly you will also realize that your purchase may not end with one. More about that in another post to follow.

Buying the right binocular is a matter of trial and error, especially in this age of online buying. You will probably stumble on the right one if an effort is made to go out and try before you buy! After all there is no binocular that is just right for everyone, so it would be prudent to take a peek before putting your money on one. 

Finally, I don't claim to be an expert on binoculars but over a period of two decades, I have managed to acquire information about how to go about when buying one that suits a particular purpose, without reason for regret. All other technical information has been sourced from many websites that are listed here.

1.     https://birdwatchinghq.com/

2.     https://www.birdwatching.com/

3.     https://www.optics4birding.com/

4.     https://www.outdoorlife.com/

5.     https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/

6.     https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/

7.     https://binocularsguides.com/

8.     https://www.rei.com/

9.     https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

10. https://vortexoptics.com/

11. https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/

12. https://imaging.nikon.com

The Binocular Blog will be a series of posts that will cover every aspect of the binoculars that you need to consider before buying.

For those who are impatient to go through the entire blog series, I'm giving below direct links to all the posts. You can go directly to the page you are interested in, though I suggest you go through each post as all of them contain some information that will be useful when you consider purchasing a binocular for your self.

1.       Introduction
2.       Part – 1: Anatomy of a Binocular
3.       Part – 2: Purpose and Portability
4.       Part – 3: Magnification, Objective diameter & FOV
5.       Part – 4: Eye Relief
6.       Part – 5: Exit pupil & Interpupillary distance
7.       Part – 6: Image brightness
8.       Part – 7: Focusing fundamentals
9.       Part – 8: Weather sealing
10.   Part – 9: Purchase decision
11.   Part – 10: Care & Storage
12.  Afterthoughts and accessories

Disclaimer: All the photos in the blog series are mine unless specified. The binoculars shown in them are owned by me and this is not meant to be an advertisement or promotion of these brands

 

Arittapatti - Part 1: Getting there

It seems the OCD that has taken possession of me is rather strong and I've not been able to get out of its clutches despite best efforts. This post reflects that, and it's about birds again but with a twist. Maybe this is my chance to wriggle out of this situation!

Summer has been unforgiving this year. The daytime temperatures have been hitting the forties recently and stepping out, especially after 10 AM, is a test of my body's resilience.  When the opportunity to travel to Madurai landed, I was thinking I'd get out of this furnace, if only for a little more than a day. However, the birder in me was gearing up for further adventures with the feathered kind. As is usual these days, before every trip, I search for potential birding spots around the place I am to visit and try to squeeze in a little time to say hello to the feathered locals. 

Then, one of my birding buddies and fellow professional, told me about a place called Arittapatti. It is a small village off the beaten track and, as I realized, barely known outside of the area that is demarcated by the bordering highways. In fact, my friend from Madurai, whose son's wedding reception I was going to attend, had never heard of the place! So also, the chap in the hotel reception where I was staying, also gave me a blank look when I asked him how I could reach this village. 

Nothing was going to dissuade me in pursuing my quest so on 24th, March 2019, I set off from my hotel at 6.30 am. My first stop was at Vandiyur lake near the hotel. Unfortunately, the restaurant wouldn't open before 7 am and I wasn't going into an expedition alone on an empty stomach. I thought I would hang around the lake, while waiting for the cooks to awaken and whip up my breakfast. After half an hour at the lake, I decided to see if I could appease my now growling stomach. As I got onto the highway I found a small restaurant open and stepped in. While wolfing down the steaming idlis and crisp vadas I asked the waiter if he knew about a village called Arittapatti. He not only knew the place but also proceeded to tell me how to get there! I was well and truly impressed. My expedition was on the roll.

Getting there

Arittapatti is about half an hour's drive from Madurai Integrated Bus Terminus. It takes less than that once you get on the four lane highway, unless you are staying somewhere inside the Madurai city.  Google Maps will show the shortest route through the Melur main road, which is quite congested.

In fact, if you get on the Airport bypass road and then get onto NH38 (Madurai - Trichy highway), you can progress faster even though the route is very slightly longer. (See the second route option below and LINK IS HERE)

After you get on the four lane highway, it is a straight drive for the next 13 to 15 kilometers depending on your point of origin. Once you cross the TVS Srichakra tyres factory that comes on your left, look for the exit. About a kilometer after that is the Narasingampatti bus stop where the service lane starts. Get off the highway onto this exit and you will see the Arittapatti direction board. Take the left turn and drive for about 4 kilometers. It is a straight stretch of recently laid road passing through some lovely scrub forest. Since, this was only an exploratory trip I didn't stop there, and proceeded to Arittpatti. 

Once you reach the village square, a small open area with a tree under which few friendly village folks sit and make conversation while waiting for the next bus to arrive, you have to turn left and go a further one kilometer towards the hillocks which holds some startling secrets! Ask for the 'malai kovil' (hill temple) or Kudavarai Sivan Kovil.

The road winds around the edge of  a large pond, the Anaikondan, which itself seems to have been the part of what once would have been a larger body of water. It was almost dry when I reached there. You can park your vehicle near the hamlet on a low hillock abutting the edge of the pond. 

The children frolicking in the water or the folks going about their daily chores outside the houses will gladly point the way to the 'malai kovil'. You have to walk across the Anaikondan pond where there is every possibility of encountering some of the famed avians of Arittapatti. Then after climbing up the first hillock you descend through some rough stone cut steps into the small valley where all the action is. 

The first view of the Arittapatti valley

 The Arattipatti hillocks lie on the outer edges of the eastern ghats. The hillocks are arranged in a north-east to south-west direction and have many water bodies around them. The major ones were dry but the smaller ones were filled with water and covered with lotuses and water lilies. The paddy fields had already been harvested so the greenery was more of dry yellow.

This was to be an exploratory trip before a detailed expedition could be charted so I turned right and walked along the edge of the southern slopes. Here too was a large pond, completely dry, opposite to the Kudavarai Sivan Kovil. They was removing the mud or clay from the bottom. It appeared that they were desilting the pond.

As you walk further into the small valley there is another hillock between the main ones, the walls of which are quite steep. Ideal location for large raptors and owls to nest.

 

At the north-eastern end the valley opens up and you can go around the hillocks to reach the edge of open country. There are a few perennial pools covered with water lilies at this place.

Lily ponds

By the time I reached the end of the valley, I had already walked for nearly an hour. The sun was beating down mercilessly and the sweating was dehydrating me. Me being alone I decided that it was time to back track. Discretion is the better part of valour, and I wasn't about to push the limits without help within reaching distance. Arittapatti lived up to its reputation as a birders paradise. On my walk I had already encountered a sizable number of species A more comprehensive exploration with a group would probably yield more. 

The birds of Arittapatti have already left their mark on me and I will  upload details in a subsequent post to follow. However. you may have to wait a bit because the next one will be about the other visitors to Arittapatti, ALIENS!!

Watch for the Alien update soon!

When a Birder killed the Blogger

More than a dozen years a have passed since I started blogging. After a few fledgling years as ‘tigertracker’, I transitioned into the ‘woodcrawler’. That was because, realization dawned that a forest and the wilderness was not only about tigers or any big cat for that matter. It denizens ranged from the tiny ticks that jump on you when given a chance, to the gentle pachyderms that mostly ignore you if you leave them alone. 

Then something happened in late 2014. Till then ‘woodcrawling’ meant just that, crawling in the woods. Of course, if you thought I was crawling on hands and knees, I forgive you for being mistaken! I would essentially wander around absorbing the sights and sounds of the forest. It would instill a sense of peace and well-being deep inside me that I was once again recharged to take on the big bad world. It was in the November of 2014 that I started taking a more serious note of the avian aspect of nature. Till then, birds were like a tiger, leopard or an elephant, a part of the jigsaw of nature. Suddenly, they became so large in my mind that they dwarfed the mighty elephants too!

 

It was a mere formality, signing up on the eBird portal and ‘documenting’ my birding adventures. At that time, I didn’t realize that it would become an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and induce certain behavioural changes in me that would make people give me strange looks. It also ‘mortally wounded’ the blog that it effectively killed off the ‘Woodcrawler’s Journal’. All my time, free and otherwise was devoted to birds and bird documentation. Even if I had a little spare time, I was invariably making ‘checklists’ on eBird. While sitting in my office, my ears would be like a Doberman’s, all perked up and listening to birds outside; and my brain would whir and click, cataloguing and classifying the birds I heard. The moment I got a few minutes free, I’d open the eBird app and start a new ‘checklist’!

The consequence of this was that the ‘Woodcrawler’s Journal’ effectively went into a deep comatose state. The posts dried up after 2015 and the few that appeared were related to birds. After a post in February 2017, the next one was after nearly a year, in January 2018. That last post was actually about trying to revive my dying blog, even the ‘Messenger from the Wilderness’, though a full grown tusker was unable to drag it out of the quagmire called birding! 

Now, a year after and many birding trips in the company of like minded and eminently likable folks, I’ve decided that it is time for a rethink. I realized, that I was becoming obsessed with numbers, taking part in challenges put forward by eBird and ensuring that targets were met. The December challenge was the last straw. They wanted checklists with media and I found myself running out of my bath and office to record bird sounds, just so that I could complete the targets!

I found that I was in the Top 50 birders in Kerala and Top 5 for my district for 2018, and horror of horrors I was No.1 for the district without stepping out of the Palghat GAP in January 2019. I’ve almost scored a century of checklists for the month! 

I’d become an obsessive checklist maniac and every waking hour was spent documenting birds, photographing them and recording their calls. All my free time went into editing and uploading my photos and audio tracks into the checklists! I forgot, I had friends and family. I forgot, what it was to have a leisurely breakfast of home cooked food on Sundays because I was out at the crack of dawn chasing feathered fiends. No, it is not a mistake, I didn’t mean feathered ‘friends’, I really meant fiends. Sunday. breakfast had become a forgotten luxury.

I also realized, in this mad run for numbers, I’d forgotten my priority, woodcrawling. Now that I was literally running after birds, I’ve forgotten to soak in the nature around me. It isn’t lost on me that I’m missing out on the best nature has to offer; so occasionally, I do wander off on my own, but the darned birds come around to distract me! 

Pic Courtesy: Adv. Namassivayan Lakshmanan

 

 2019 seems to be a life changing year and I thought it should also reflect on my attitude to birds and nature. Though I’ve no plans to hang up my birding boots, I’m going to ignore the numbers game. I’m going to turn eBird into an useful tool than the other way round. It helps me document my achievements and as VR, our senior birder says, it will be invaluable to future generations to come. 

Right now, the priority is to revive the comatose blog and bring it into the sunshine again. I will blog about birds, no doubt, but not exclusively. After all, everyone is not a birder! As for eBird, I will continue to contribute, meaningfully because, if not for that portal, I wouldn’t have been able to assess myself and develop into a more serious birder.  

A Messenger from the Wilderness

Ever since the birding bug bit me I have been obsessively pursuing the feathered bipeds with undisguised glee. Suddenly, I found my species count had touched 300 plus! Then I splurged on audio equipment and even abandoned a not-so-bad Chinese made shotgun microphone for a Sennheiser! (More about that later)

On Fridays, messages flow in our birding gang's Whatsapp group about plans for the Sunday to follow. I found that I started missing my mother's yummy masala dosas and appam with stew! Moreover, I realized that Sunday, which was a day for relaxation found me out of the bed earlier than usual, loading up the car for a three or four hour birding session in Palakkad's hot weather! I had completely flipped for the birds!

Not only that, I had become specifically obsessed with two groups of birds, the nightjars and the warblers. One would only wake up at dusk and fly around in the dark and the other would skulk in the bushes rarely showing itself to be photographed decently! The nightjars have become like an obsessive disorder that despite any other program on Sunday mornings, I'd return in the evenings,  to a hillside in Malampuzha, that we had started calling 'Nightjar Valley', to await their arrival at dusk!

I am in love with the nightjar orchestra. The quartet, consisting of Indian, Jerdon's, Jungle and Savanna nightjars, start their performance at sunset and play till darkness falls. After that, they each go their individual ways, pursuing invisible insects in the air. I can't seem to get enough of them though I've recorded all four species many times over and this obsession culminated in a totally unexpected encounter this last Sunday (7th January, 2018).

Recording their calls is relatively easy, especially with my new possession, the Sennheiser ME67 long shotgun mic, but getting a decent photograph of these elusive birds is a challenge in the failing light of dusk. I have a powerful headlight and torch but even then it is very difficult to get a good picture especially since they are always on the wing. Then, it so happened, that on a previous Sunday evening I saw a nightjar in daylight; sitting, of all the places, on an electric wire! While that was unusual, it got me thinking about looking for them during the daytime. That is how I happened to be in a place to meet my Messenger!

The place we call 'Nightjar Valley' is essentially a hillside in the Malampuzha reservoir's edge, the slopes of which descend into the waterbody. These hillsides are the route mammalian denizens use to reach their water source, especially in summer. I have run into sambar deer while exploring the slopes.

 

Sometime last year we had seen the pugmarks of a leopard but except for the presence of their dried dung, never elephants.

Below the slope here, are small farms with human settlements and 'Nightjar Valley' itself is on the edge of these settlements so the animals have to traverse the length of the protruding hillocks to access the reservoir.

So, on Sunday the 7th January, 2018, I drove out to the place with a plan to look for sleeping nightjars. We had noticed that at dusk the calls started from a small patch of forest lying on the northern side of the slope and the birds flew into the 'Nightjar Valley' from somewhere beyond that. I had been on that slope many times and had once flushed a nightjar from almost underfoot. So with the fond hope of meeting my favourite bird in daylight I parked my car in Nightjar Valley and crossed the small patch of forest to the slope on the other side.

Once I reached the slope, I scanned the rock face for potential places. The edges of the boulders, among the leaf litter at bottom of the trees or roosting along a branch would be the most likely places for finding the nightjar. I started climbing the slope slowly in a crisscross pattern looking carefully at all the possible hiding places this master-of-camouflage could blend into. Then I heard it, a sharp crack of a breaking branch or bamboo from the next patch of forest to the right of the slope I was on. I saw the violent shaking of the top of a tree below me. Elephants!

I could feel the blood rushing into my head, and my ears felt blocked as the adrenaline rush started. Here I was, on a slope, all alone and below me was either a herd (the person I met a few days earlier, looking for his cows, had told me that there were three) or a lone elephant. I couldn't see anything at first. The canopy was too dense and the forest floor below was completely obscured. As long as the feeding was going on I knew where the elephants would be. I debated with myself if I should keep going up the slope on my quest or wait and watch for a while.Then, it occurred to me that if I reached the top and then the herd decided stop feeding and came onto the place I had been earlier, I would be stuck with no escape route!

I had to be sure of the number of elephants and their mood. I stayed on the edge of the slope peering carefully through the gaps in the branches under the tree that continued to shake under the herd's onslaught. Then I saw it, a small movement like a pendulum, through the leaves; an elephant's tail! From the position of the tail I knew it was facing away from me. I was downwind of the elephants where I stood. If I moved uphill I would give the elephants the opportunity to scent my presence and if they were annoyed by my intrusion, would be in deep trouble. Beside, I was already encumbered by my camera and bird call recording gear, hanging from various parts of my anatomy and in the event the elephants decide to show their ire on me, I would be hard put to make a fast exit.

Discretion being the better part of valour, I decided to abort my nightjar expedition and withdraw to safety. If there was a mother with a young calf, I could be assured of an angry charge! Then, in my haste to turn around and make a safe exit I stepped on a pile of dry leaves. The sound of cracking leaves never sounded this loud to me before. Almost like jumping into a basket of crisply fried 'papadums'! I stopped in mid-step and also realized instantly that the sounds of feeding had stopped too! The herd realized that someone was spying on them!

I couldn't possibly outrun an angry elephant but I had to be sure in which direction they were headed. There was no way for them to circle around and pounce on me. I had the advantage of being on a higher level and could see them if they moved. They could either move to the right towards the road or up over the rocks towards me. The other two directions wasn't an option with almost vertical slopes on one side and steep forested slope towards the top of the hillock. Then, I heard the noise; dried leaves on the forest floor getting crushed under the moving pachyderms. The sounds were  moving to the left and towards the slope I was on. That would slow the herd, especially if there was a small calf. There was a relatively open part in the canopy just below and left of where I was standing and as I stared through the branches, following the sound of the crackling leaves, I saw what I had disturbed.

The first thing I saw was a pair of menacingly sharp white tusks. Then I saw the trunk, curling in different directions trying to pick up the scent of the intruder. It was a bull elephant! Fortunately I was still downwind and the elephant was moving very slowly, probably trying to be as noiseless as possible! I could see his grey hide and part of his ear through the branches and it seemed he was facing in my direction, perhaps even looking up and trying to locate the source of the sound which had disturbed him.

I knew it was time to move. The elephant could clamber up the slope without much effort, so it would be foolhardy of me to hang around longer. I carefully moved back towards the little forested patch below which my car was parked. This time I was careful to step only on bare rock so that the elephant would not guess in which direction I had gone.

After I reached the forest patch, I halted to listen for the sound of the elephant's movements. It was still coming up, but very slowly. I waited behind a tree about 75 meters from where I had been standing earlier. I knew all elephants were not dangerous and in case he was in a temperamental mood I had my escape route clear behind me. As the sound came closer, I saw something grey emerge over the edge of the slope a few feet below where I had been standing a little while earlier. Then the forehead and tusks came into view.

What a magnificent specimen? I have seen elephants at close range in Bandipur and Nagarahole but that was from the relative safety of a safari vehicle. I have never had an experience of a malicious charge. Mostly, it was mothers with little calves in tow that showed a tendency to get irritated and the mock charges were to scare you off. All the bull elephants only gave long hard looks before they went on their way. Some of them completely ignored us!

As this handsome bull emerged from below, I could see he was a young adult in his prime. My first concern was to see if he was in musth. My gaze went to the line between his ear hole and the eye. If he was in musth a wet patch can been seen starting from midway on this line, where the opening of the musth gland is, and flowing towards the mouth. It was a perfectly dry space on this tusker.

Then, as he reached the edge of the slope he looked in my direction, with ears forward. Perhaps he heard my camera clicking or he saw me standing there.

It was only once he reached the top that I realized how fortunate I had been. Here was a superb specimen of elephantine handsomeness and I had the privilege of setting my eyes on him at eye level, and on foot. It was my first face-off with a wild tusker on foot and all alone. I wasn't therefore very keen to provoke him into charging me. I stayed in the safety of the forest, partly hidden by some trees.

He had the most dignified look about him and I couldn't resist squeezing off a few more shots. He looked at me calmly and I could feel him telling me something. Almost as if he was a Messenger from the Wilderness. It seems, I had forgotten recently that there was more to nature than birds.  

Just on top of this slope is a flat rock with a small tree beside it, our Bodhi Tree. That was the rock on which my son and I had come and sat many a time just enjoying the feel of the winds blowing over us while we soaked ourselves in the the sights and sounds of the forest around us.Perhaps it was a wake up call; just a reminder that we forgot about Bandipur and our other regular haunts. Time has come for a revisit and also a revival of the Woodcrawler's Journal that has suffered a breakdown for nearly a year.

It seems the Messenger knew that I heard him. He turned, and walked off up the slope away from me. I too returned to my car, humbled by the experience. It is a rare privilege to encounter a handsome bull, all alone and on foot in a favourite patch of forest.

To those who think elephants are dangerous, I'll tell you that you are wrong. They are far more sensible than us humans and prefer to melt silently into the forest in the presence of humans but when we encroach into their territory and disturb them, they WILL retaliate. Don't forget, these gentle creatures, when provoked can be extremely angry and then it will be too late to regret.

Please check this link for more on elephant behaviour

My experience in Malampuzha was unexpected, though not entirely. I don't claim to be an expert in jungle craft but I've acquired some knowledge and minor skills that could get me out of many tricky situations. Remember, don't try anything foolhardy. Keep a safe distance if you know you are in the vicinity of elephants, especially herds with very small calves.

The latest idiotic trend is to try and take a selfie everywhere, including in the presence of wild elephants. That is outright stupid. Not only that, the flash in a camera, mobile or otherwise is very irritating to elephants and all wildlife in general. You can get yourself into trouble if you 'flash' at a pachyderm.

Next time you run into an elephant herd in the wild, remember that if you give them their space, they will almost surely ignore you and continue with their business of feeding. It is only when you deliberately provoke them that they react violently.

My instinct tells me that 2018 promises to be a great year for the Woodcrawlers of the world.

Happy Woodcrawling!