Recommendation for wildlife observation?

[MKL]

Could I pick everyone's brains for advice on a compact, lightweight torch/flashlight that would be suitable for use looking for wildlife - mainly owls, but also mammals.

For that use the ideal light is one with a reasonably good throw (you might be scanning treetops a long way away for well camoflaged animals, or looking across open areas), but also a beam that has some flood is needed. Firstly most of the time you are scanning around and want to cover a fair area - you don't want to have to run the beam along each branch of a tree individually. Secondly, once you have located the bird you don't want to nuke its eyes. In fact when using a conventional spotlight, once the bird or animal is located you generally immediately move the hotspot off it.

I have not used an LED torch in the field. I appreciate that a wide beam isn't ususally a characteristic of an LED torch but I am willing to sacrifice that for the size and weight advantages. I am looking for something I can take when travelling light.

At the moment I am thinking that a Fenix TK11 or a Tiablo A9 is as good a choice as any (probably tending towards the former, because it looks to be better value). If anyone can think of anything more suitable then please let me know.

HID torches seem to cost more than I want to spend so I have not considered them.

Thanks.

 

[Sgt. LED]

This is one time you might appreciate the better color rendition of an incandesent light. If not the TK11 ought to do well enough.

 

[CampingLED]

:welcome:
You can also add the Dereelight DBS V2 to your shortlist. With those three (Fenix, Tiablo & Dereelight) you are well covered i.t.o. LED throwers with good side spill.

It is also worth it to look at BessieBennie's thread.

 

[MKL]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into them.

 

[Triple A]

Surefire 6P is a good all around beam, and can be purchased as an incandescent, and then used with an LED drop in if desired.

+1 for incandescent for noticing subtle color differences on birds / animals of any kind. (You can also look for "incandescent like" tints in led drop ins- I think I saw a great one on a recent post showing a DX warm white cree (Q2?) that looked very close to incandescent.)

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=202750

This is the link to "neutral white led" thread. I hope this works- haven't posted a link before.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Here is an old article with some great tips. It was written before red LED flashlights, so it recommends putting red cellophane a flashlight or lantern.

Observation of Nocturnal Animals by Red Light
Robert B. Finley, Jr.
Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Nov., 1959), pp. 591-594
Published by: American Society of Mammalogists

 

[BIGIRON]

I would think red would be far better for observing so as not to disturb the animals. White light would be better, probably, for locating them.

I've used my L2T w/red filter very successfully for night animal viewing. Surprising throw.

And doesn't attract bugs.

 

[Triple A]

Great Points Bigiron and Art Vandelay! My response to this question was meant to maximize the experince of the observer, but didn't take into account the experience of the animals being observed. Thank You for a gentle bump in a more considerate direction! Also, chances of observing more than just the tail end of the animal will probably be increased using this more "gentle" method. This, plus preserving your night vision. This sounds like a winning strategy for a better viewing experience!!

 

[WadeF]

I use my Dereelight DBS V2 for spotting critters. Most of the time the bright light doesn't phase them. If anything they just sit there and look confused.

 

[Illum]

Could I pick everyone's brains for advice on a compact, lightweight torch/flashlight that would be suitable for use looking for wildlife - mainly owls, but also mammals.

If you use an incandescent to look for owls, you will never find them. Most animals are pretty sensitive to incandescent light partially due to the heat output and or by infrared or UV sensors.

Owls don't seem to mind when I use LED, KX2 head to be exact
I use the E2e+KX2 head because it has sufficient spill for navigation, plenty of throw for looking at eye reflections. Low current draw means long runtime and very little heat. Its not a powerhouse, so no searchlight ability like the TK11 or Dereelight.

When your outdoors, let your eyes adjust to the darkness, in total darkness I find a fenix E01 to be sufficient for general lighting if your in the field, if your in a forest I would probably recommend a Zebralight H50 [1AA + CREE Q5 headlight], no reflector, no optics, terrific spill, 3 modes with low being the best for navigation.

avoid lights with strobe...it many startle wildlife [although I cant reproduce it with neighbors dogs, it does post an issue on warthogs...supposedly you run a risk of them charging at you].

Forget HIDs, once your adapted to the darkness you'll blind both you and whatever you are looking for. Supposedly a 1MCP spotlight + red filter will enable you to spot wildlife. yeah it'll work, but you have to use the corona [not the spot, use the spill] to illuminate wildlife, if you point it right at them you'll loose them. :thumbsup:

As far as gear is concerned. My gear would be a towel wrapped on my forehead, 100% DEET around the neck, long sleeved shirt, long pants, gloves is optional depending on terrain, there are no mountains or hills in FL, so I keep them in a pocket just in case. I bring a fixed blade, my Benchmade CSKII, dunno why. Compass, watch, and a poncho.
bring a small duffel if your bringing optical gear. binoculars, like telescopes, are inherently water resistant, but it'll flood and cleaning watermarks are a pain in the @#$%....and rain is always unpredictable. It may be clear when you left you may come back drenched

these are my experiences anyway, I hope they can be of some help.
Mosquito's are like a fog here, I've long since retired from this until winter, but till them theres only bird to look for:shrug:

 

[Gunner12]

How much throw distance wise would you like?
Also, what sized beam would you like at that point?
How much is runtime and lower modes a factor?

The Tiable A9 from KD is a pretty good deal for a thrower(the Tk11 I'm guessing is 10,000 lux max, the A9 is a bit more then twice that). But depending on the distance, it might be too much, or not enough.

The main factor for throw in high power LEDs is the reflector, so the light can be really floody, really throwy, or in between. All depends on the refelctor more then the LED itself.

All LED lights with a reflector have a spill of some kind but color rendering of most LEDs can make things look flat.

What lights do you use now?

:welcome:

 

[MKL]

Thanks again for the suggestions folks.

At the moment I use a cheap large spotlight labelled as 1 million candlepower, with an inbuilt battery. It is very good so long as you don't mind it's big and heavy and has poor battery life. It's brighter than I really need. As I often spotlight from cars I have a similar light that I can plug into the cigarette lighter socket. Friends use unmodified rechargeable Maglites and they are very good, but heavy for travelling. When you've already got a bag full of binoculars and cameras, and perhaps only a 20kg baggage allowance to play with, it all adds up.

I have trouble estimating the distance I need to cover but I would say often I'm scanning through the tops of trees say 70 metres away, and then once you have located the bird you might not be able to get any closer than that. At that distance I suppose I would like to be able to scan a 10 metre diameter area. Generally I am trying to track down birds that are calling, but I also just scan around generally. Runtime isn't really a significant issue provided it uses interchangeable rechargeable batteries. Various output levels is a plus but not essential. The flat colour of LED lights is not ideal, but at this stage given that I am looking for something small and light I think it's a compromise worth making.

Gunner12, thanks for that comment on lux output. I had underestimated the difference between the TK11 and the A9 - probably as a result of placing too much emphasis on the lumens figures. I need to do more homework.

I have only tried using red filters a couple of times - mainly where the birds get disturbed by people looking at them regularly and therefore it's important to minimise disturbance. But my limited experience is that it makes locating the bird in the first place a lot harder.

If anyone's interested, here is a link that discusses the effect of shining lights into the eyes of birds: http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/1997-04/msg00006.html
The gist of it is that it won't cause permanent damage, but the effect may be to cause a degree of temporary blindness for up to an hour which may reduce the bird's ability to hunt for that period.

 

[CampingLED]

If you use an incandescent to look for owls, you will never find them. Most animals are pretty sensitive to incandescent light partially due to the heat output and or by infrared or UV sensors.

I can support the IR statement. I once tried to take a flash photo of an owl at night. It sat undisturbed and was scared the moment my flash triggered the IR focus assist beam.

 

[Illum]

I discovered a barred owl yesterday night on our property, I kept an LED beam on it for a very long time, whereas all it did was hop from one branch to another and hid from the hotspot

it looked exactly like this only it was under a canopy with light rain around 10PM...not my pic, but so cute


Owls are among the frequent wildlife you would find at night, be warned though, species like the great horned owl has eyes like the sun at night, so be advised when you can the tree tops.

 

[kramer5150]

Noob comment....

I have been using my 6P+DX11836 for critter tracking at night. It will throw out a good 150-200 yard radius. Large beam with serviceable flood within the first ~40-50 yards, after that it floods out to a big hot spot.

I also use a sportsman extreme, its lower lumen output, floody beam and longer run time is better suited for the actual hike out there.

I take my son out and we search for bats at night, its pretty wild. You can hear their sonar signals before you can actually see them, and I am certain they can detect our presence long before we can detect theirs. I often wonder what our sonar profile looks like. One big lumbering lump (me) one smaller lump jumping/bouncing around, arms limbs sticking out (my son).

We also find deer and rabbits... haven't come across a mountain lion, coyote or anything dangerous yet. Its pretty cool... scanning across the field, through oak trees and you see two beady little eyes peeking at you from 100 yards.

 

[selfbuilt]

Owls don't seem to mind when I use LED, KX2 head to be exact
I use the E2e+KX2 head because it has sufficient spill for navigation, plenty of throw for looking at eye reflections. Low current draw means long runtime and very little heat. Its not a powerhouse, so no searchlight ability like the TK11 or Dereelight.

I would tend to agree with this. The most useful thing I've found for spotting animals in trees at night is by using retinal eye flash. You don't need a very bright light for this, just one well focussed for throw (i.e. hold the light near the level of your own eyes, and scan until you get the eye flashback). My original D-mini was quite good for this, so you don't need a scorcher.

I'd recommend a light with good number of output levels, where you can jump up intensity easily one-handed. That way, once you've spotted the eye flash, you can then move the hotspot off the animal and crank up the output to see it better. Any of the modern thrower LED lights should be pretty good for this.

 

[Gunner12]

At 70 meter, the Tk11 should be fine. The A9 can probably throw a 200 meter usable beam.

How tough does the light need to be?

I'm thinking of a lower priced light with a drop-in might be better that way you can easily upgrade the light(just get a new drop-in and drop it in).

Multimode could be helpful so once you see the animal, dim the light down as to not disturb it as much.

The Magcharger(probably what your friends use) is around 30,000 lux and around 300 lumen out the front.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Would night-vision goggles be a better alternative to a bright light?

 

[Illum]

Would night-vision goggles be a better alternative to a bright light?

wheres the fun in that? :laughing:
I think if weight is a concern and space is a premium I'd probably leave that gadget at home, though I have no doubt you might be able to see wildlife using infrared with them, save the owls

 

[MKL]

What do you think of this option - the Dereelight CL 1H v4 with the 5A Q2 emitter? That emitter seems to project a warmer light which should address the colour accuracy issue to a degree. Do you think it will be bright enough? (On the other hand I am still thinking about the Tiablo to give me the longer reach on the occasions that would be useful).