How not to treat a scope

[philbattley]

Has anyone had the sensation quite like I had last year, when failing to find my very expensive and irreplaceable scope not in its usual place? Checked the car, the garage, every room in the house, then realised I was also missing the tripod it was last used on... Which got me thinking, was the last time I saw it 8 days ago at the Manawatu Estuary when we were cannon-netting godwits? A few quick phone calls followed to confirm that no, none of us was aware of having brought it in from the field, but one us us did recall laying it down on the ground to be inconspicuous when changing vantage point before we fired the nets. At this point, Jesse Conklin, who had last touched the kit and was still hanging out at the estuary, took off to run down the spit to where he thought it might have been left. After running most of the way he thought "Why am I running? It's been here 8 days already!" and sure enough, there it was with the tripod, lying on the sand amongst the vegetation, open to the elements, COMPLETELY FINE! And that is why it pays to invest in decent, waterproof or water resistant gear, and to leave them in a place where nobody ever walks. Not an exercise I would recommend others try, but the Nikon EDG vibration reduction scope passed the test. Not that I could have done anything about it had it died, as they are no longer produced...

Good birding, and keep those optics safe folks.

Phil

[Jan]

A canterbury birder, before my time but well known to many, once left his scope standing up where he had been viewing lake birds, on one of those pull-ins alongside Kaituna lagoon, Lake Ellesmere. This was on the State Highway to Akaroa, but back then probably not the racetrack it is today. I think they say his bins were also there.
Anyway, however long after he realised it was missing, people went back and there it was. Unharmed. I've left bins in odd places and refound them and once paid a reward to get a pair back when I left them on the roof and people over the other side of Chch [like 30k away] had picked them up. Amazing.

[andrewcrossland]

Heck! I doubled my blood pressure just reading this Phil! Its happened to me a few times, and not always with am happy ending.

Thoughts go out to poor Niall Mugan though, who during our NZ record-breaking bird race attempt back in 2008 left his nice shiny pair of Leicas on the car roof as we were leaving Lake Pearson on the Arthurs Pass Rd and heading toward Lake Ellesmere with only 2 or 3 hours left to find a whole bunch of species. We'd driven 500m before he realised but a quick double back and search along the roadside failed to find them. So having used up a good 5 mins search he decided to accept the loss and keep pushing on with the bird race! That $3000 binocs was never seen again............

[philbattley]

Ouch almighty!