Eagle Festival In Essex Connecticut Draws A Big Crowd

I decided to check out the Eagle Festival for the first time this year. I arrived at about 10:30am. It was only about 30 degrees but lots of sunshine with minimal wind made for a nice winter morning. I decided to skip the cruise and save it for another weekend. It was a little too crowded for my taste.

One of the reasons I went was to try out some of the binoculars they had in the optics tents. I currently use Swift Ultra-Lite 8x42 roof prism binoculars. I have no major complaints with these binoculars. They have all the features I am looking for and include a lifetime warranty.
If I were to buy new binoculars, they would have to offer me a view that was clearly better than the ones I own now.

I looked through several of the top of the line roof prism binoculars. The only one that really impressed me were the Swarovski 8.5 x 42's. The Leica's didn't seem to fit my eyes comfortably. I did not like the view through 8x 32's as well as the the 42's. I would have liked to try out the best that Zeiss, Bushnell, and Nikon had to offer but unfortunately none of the dealers brought those models along. The dealer at Fat Robin said he would have brought those models had he known the weather was going to be so good.

I didn't spend a lot of time at the festival. It was interesting to come across so many people who had never seen eagles before. My brother-in-law Al and I enjoyed helping people locate BALD EAGLES . We saw about ten in the area while we were there. I also saw a NORTHERN HARRIER and a RED-TAILED HAWK fly by.