LBJ

While the mister and I were on our honeymoon in South Africa, we were able to have a private guide for our safari. Mike helped us to discover worlds we had never thought we would be interested in, let alone obsessive about. Two of the things he led the way with go hand in hand. The first is the benefit of binoculars if you enjoy the outdoors. We borrowed his swarovski binos (they retail between £500- £2500 for their low to mid range products) and discovered the wonderful world of detail. Were were nieve and unaware of the fact that we were looking through the cost of a small car, and enjoyed the benefit of being able to see that the rock was in fact a rhino. Needless to say we wanted our own and we spent the money that was given to us as gifts from the wedding on a two pairs of Nikon binos. Much more affordable, yet still absurdly expensive. From that point on I have been focusing on the second thing Mike brought to my attention. Birds. Now in the birding community, or twitchers, there is a name for birds that don't stand out from the rest... LBJ Little Brown Jobs. In our new home we have tons of these. Mostly house sparrows. They live in the hedgerow to the side of our house and frequent our bird table/ bird feeders more than any other type of bird. I watch in anticipation of their antics through the kitchen window. My binoculars stuck to my face and a slight sway to my back that I can't seem to help doing when I am looking through them. Close up any bird is incredible. The detail to their feathers, their eyes, their feet, the shape of their beaks and the way they open seed shells is something you can only have an appreciation of when you can see them very close up. So after I stocked the rayburn, put feed on the bird table, and had breakfast, I went and got my camera and my binos and waited. This is a bit of what I saw. I believe if you click on the photos themselves you can see the larger version of the pictures.

Beautiful little birds, aren't' they?