As a birder, you'll often freeze mid-footpath (and mid-sentence), raise your binoculars, and immediately feel the eye-staring weight of every passing runner, dog-walker, or couple deep in gossip, wondering what the peck you are looking at. Yep, you know the scenarion and the intial awkward feeling.

Your 'new-to-birding internal dialogue' says to you, “Do I look weird right now?”

Yes, to them you probably do, but what's that all about?!?!  

It’s okay, we all go through it. Just rest assured that for THAT exact moment, while the rest of the world rushes past, you’re seeing something they’re missing and it's bloody amazing.

Do I look weird right now?

A Short History of Looking Closer

Binoculars started life as twin telescopes strapped together, born from early seafaring and theatre. Their purpose was always the same: to make the distant personal.

The first versions appeared in the 1600s, but it wasn’t until 1854 that Italian inventor Ignazio Porro introduced the prism system that made modern binoculars possible. Decades later, Carl Zeiss, working with physicists Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott, turned them into the bright, portable optics we know today.

By the early 1900s, binoculars had made their way from ships and opera houses into the hands of explorers and naturalists, and when Roger Tory Peterson released his Field Guide to the Birds in 1934, birders everywhere caught on.

Getting a little technical for a second - light enters through the front lenses, is flipped by prisms, then sharpened by the eyepieces. That simple idea lets us see fine feathers, subtle beak shapes, or the twitch of a tail that separates one species from another.

In Volume 4: Tune In - Birding by Sound, we learned how to listen. This time, we’re learning to see, not just look. Binoculars help us admire from a distance, staying close enough to identify, but far enough to respect.

Binocular Anatomy

Every part of a binocular has a job to do:

• Twist-up Eyecups: Adjust to block stray light and improve comfort.
  
  

• Focus Wheel: The main control for clarity; a gentle touch sharpens everything.
  
  

• Diopter: Fine-tunes the focus difference between your left and right eye.
  
  

• Objective Lenses: Gather and funnel light into the barrels, the bigger they are, the brighter your view.
  
  

• Rubber Armor: Protects against knocks and gives that rugged, tactile grip every birder appreciates.
  
  

Think of these not as “features” but as your bridge to detail. The difference between a flash of colour and a clear ID often comes down to how well you understand, and use, these parts.

"Dont judge your fellow birders by the number they have between their eyes!"

Magnification: The Real Meaning Behind the Numbers

Those numbers printed on every binocular that sit in between your eyes, like 8×25 or 10×42, aren’t secret codes, they describe how your view behaves. Why they place them so blatantly obvious for all to see, we don't actually know.

Please don't be one of those birders that judges another's birding abilities by the number they have between their eyes! Every focus has its purpose; it's not a reflection on how good you are!

Ok, so what are these numbers?

• The first number is the magnification power: how many times closer the subject appears. It’s as simple as that. So, if you’re watching a bird perched 80 metres away, through 8× binoculars it will appear as if it’s only 10 metres away (80 ÷ 8 = 10). In other words, it looks eight times closer than what you’d see without binoculars.

• The second number is the objective lens diameter in millimetres, the lens size that decides how much light enters. Lets break this down a bit more.

It tells you how much light your binoculars can gather. Larger lenses let in more light, which means brighter, clearer views, especially at dawn or dusk.

So an 8×25 has smaller lenses, lighter and easier to carry, while a 10×42 has bigger lenses that brighten the image but make the binoculars heavier.

Also, think of it like this:

• Smaller number = more portable, everyday use

• Bigger number = brighter image, but more bulk

That balance between light, size, and comfort is what makes choosing the right pair personal.

Still with us? No, what do you mean, too intense?

Joking, ok great, let's continue……

8×25 – The All-Rounder

Eight-times magnification, small 25 mm lenses. Perfect for travel, everyday birding, and beginners. Lighter, easier to hold, and with a wider field of view, ideal for spotting movement quickly and tracking active birds.

10×42 – The Detail Seeker

Ten-times magnification, 42 mm lenses. Sharper detail at distance, but a narrower field of view and a bit more shake to manage. Excellent for open landscapes or when you’re ready to step up.

Magnification vs Stability

Higher magnification exaggerates every hand tremor. Lower magnification keeps your image calmer. Most modern birders settle on 8× as the sweet spot: a view wide enough for context, steady enough for comfort, and close enough for identification.

Ok, are you ready to geek just a little bit more?

Field of View

Field of View is simply how much you can see through your binoculars.

An 8× pair shows more of the scene, which helps you spot and follow moving birds.

A 10× pair zooms in closer but narrows what you see, so it’s harder to track fast movers.

That’s why most birders love 8× binoculars, steady, wide, and natural to use.

Exit Pupil

This just means how bright your view looks.

Bigger lenses let in more light for dawn or dusk birding. Smaller ones are lighter to carry but not as bright.

Product plug here, but with the NOCS 8×25 bins, it really hits that sweet spot, clear, bright, and easy to take anywhere.

Choosing Your Binocular Personality

Here’s how to match your optics to your birding experiences, they generally get broken up into the following titles, very much common sense but also good to define:

• Compact: For travellers and everyday birders. Easy to slip in a tote or jacket pocket.
  
  

• Mid-size: Balanced weight and power for regular use.
  
  

• Full-size: More detail, less portability, good for longer sessions and when you are out for a serious bird outing.

• Monoculars: The one-eyed wonder. You don't see many of these as handheld s but for many weekend birders these are better and easier to use. They are pocketable, and ideal for quick bird-spotting on the go (or when you’re not ready to commit to full “bin life”). We recommend getting one and keeping it in your bag or car glove box. Check out the NOCS monocular here

Every birder goes through it.

That early stage when lifting binoculars feels like stepping into another dimension, one where the rest of the world keeps moving, jogging, talking, and scrolling, while you stand still, focused on a single branch.

There’s vulnerability in that. You’re surrendering to the moment, to curiosity, to looking. Also, because, literally, you can't see anything else! But that’s the beauty of it, birding will make you care less about what people think and more about what’s out there.

Soon, that awkwardness will turn into pride. Because you’ll realise you’re not staring into nothing. You’re watching real life unfold in the treetops and on the ground, and honestly, that’s cooler than anything else you can do when you are out & about.

Binocular Etiquette: Birding, Not Surveillance

Birding has its unwritten rules. Here are a few that’ll keep you on the right side of good form:

• Never point your binoculars at people. Ever. That’s not birding, that’s just a little weird.
  
  

• Step aside. You’ll stop mid-path and instantly reach for you bins but just remember that those trails are for everyone. Let joggers and prams pass as best as you can.
  
  

• Share the view. Passers-by will often stop and ask, “What are you looking at?”

You could brush it off with a quick comment and keep scanning, but honestly, we say share the view. Hand over your bins and let them peek into our world. Just be prepared to spend five minutes explaining how to hold them, refocus them, and readjust them. And by the time they finally say “Oh wow, I see it, its a leaf, it's so pretty!!” the bird you’ve been searching for all morning has flown. But hey, that’s birding. And you know what they say , sharing is… caring, right?

You can read more about good field manners in Volume 6: How NOT to Bird: Bird Etiquette, where we covered the dos, don’ts, and why “don’t play bird calls on your phone” still needs to be said.

Respect the birds. If they startle, you’re too close.

Back off.

Binoculars aren’t about looking like you know what you’re doing; they’re about learning to see.

Each adjustment, each refocus, is a reminder to slow down and notice what others miss. In that stillness, something shifts. You start seeing not just birds, but rhythm, patience, and presence.

Because when you lift those lenses, you’re not disconnecting from the world, you’re finally connecting with it.

And trust us, it’s worth the view.

Next up:

Vol. 08:

Where the Birders Are: A directory of Birding crews & gangs