If there is one piece of equipment that defines a person as a birder, it is binoculars. At least when I see somebody walking on a trail with binoculars, I assume that there is a pretty good chance that they are birders. In a previous post I described choosing binoculars, so here we’ll move on to a different issue; once you have a new pair of binoculars, how do you use them properly?  I have seen far too many new birders getting frustrated because they can’t find the birds. Sometimes this is because they are using outdated hand-me-down bins, but very often they are also using them improperly. So here we go, with seven pieces of binocular advice.

1. Keep them clean. This should be self-evident. It’s tough to find birds if the lenses are dirty or smudged. Use a lint-free cloth and a little water, cleaning  the lenses with a light circular motion.  It is best to avoid detergents or harsh cleaners, since they can degrade the optic coatings.  Check the cleanliness before going out into the field, instead of lifting your bins onto that first bird, and then realizing there is a problem and trying to clean them using your your shirt. Take care of your bins and they will take care of you.

2. With most binoculars, the eyecups can either screw in or out. So which should you use?  If you wear eyeglasses, the eyecups should be in, and if you don’t wear glasses, the eyecups should be out (extended away from the lens barrel). This keeps your pupils at the optimum distance from the lens. Some models have multiple stops before becoming fully extended; choose the distance that works best for your eyes.

3. Adjust the interpupillary distance. The barrels of the binoculars can hinge outward or inward to center the lenses comfortably over your eyes, typically maintaining enough tension so that they don’t move during routine use. If you don’t adjust this distance, you will tend to either look cross-eyed, or will see double, or will only be using one eye at a time.

4. Adjust the diopter. This is the adjustment that new binocular owners most often will be unaware of. Some of us have one eye dominant over the other, such that they focus at different distances. The diopter corrects for those differences such that both eyes are focusing at the same point. Locate the diopter wheel. Depending on your model, it might be near the center focusing wheel, but most frequently is just below the right eyecup. Some diopter adjustment wheels lock in place, so check your owner’s manual. To adjust the diopter, cover the objective lens (the larger lens) of the right barrel with your right palm such that you can’t see anything using that eye. Then, while keeping your right eye open, look at a distant unmoving object using your left eye and adjust the focus using your left hand on the focus wheel. You don’t want to be squinting. OK. Next we somewhat reverse the process, covering the left objective with the left palm and looking at the same distant object using the right eye. If the image is not sharply in focus, this time instead of using the focus wheel, adjust the sharpness using the diopter wheel. Now the binoculars are adjusted for your eyes, not the ‘average’ person’s eyes. So you can think of the diopter as a kind of second focus wheel that you use only once to adjust for the differences in your two eyes. Now if you focus on anything using the usual focus wheel, the object should be equally sharp with each eye. You should check the diopter adjustment every month or two, especially if it doesn’t lock in place. Now your bins will be providing the sharpest image possible for both eyes.

5.  That does it for equipment adjustment; now we get down to technique. First of all, if you are new to birding and using binoculars, it is a good idea to practice on stationary objects for a while until you get used to them. Focus on a close object, then on a distant one, then back to close again and far again. If you can’t do that quickly on objects that are not moving, you will be frustrated trying to do it on smaller moving birds.

6. Resist the temptation to lift the binoculars to your eyes and then scanning for the bird. Instead, do the opposite and stare at the subject, and only then lift the bins up to the eyes without moving your head. If you do that procedure correctly, the bird will be in view. An even better practice is to take note of landmarks near the bird as you are lifting your bins, in the event that it is not in view at first. For example, when I see a bird, I might note that it is to the left of a cluster of flowers, or it is just above the thickest branch, or that it is walking in a bare spot on the ground, etc. Then if it is not in view immediately, but that thickest branch or that bare spot is in view, then you can scan from that landmark toward the bird without taking the bins away from your eyes and starting at square one again.

7. An important point is that your finger should always be on the focus wheel. This is not obvious to many people, so let me repeat myself. YOUR FINGER SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THE FOCUS WHEEL. Birds can move quickly, so you have to be able to change focus quickly . You can only do that if your fingers are continuously in contact with the focus wheel. Then if you aim the bins at a bird and it isn’t in focus, you can immediately rotate the wheel until you see it clearly and without having to spend time adjusting your grip. This is perhaps the most common error that I see beginners make, so, similar to driving, keep your hands on the wheel. When you get better at it, finding the bird and focusing on it almost becomes a single simultaneous process instead of separate events.

Following this advice should help you to become a better birder, or at least be able to see them quicker. Then we can move on to figuring out what they are and enjoying watching them.