Casual Friday: Phonescoping his feathered friends

Ken Bonner has always been an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed seeing birds while spending time in nature.

But the addition of a spotting scope linked to his cellphone has turned him from a casual birdwatcher to an avid birder and wildlife photographer.

Birding, as noted in the special section Take Flight inserted in today’s Tribune, is a pastime many enjoy, and the wealth of feathered species in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington provides for endless opportunities to add to the life list of birds you’ve seen.

Bonner, of Lewiston, is always on the lookout for birds he has not seen before, but he has a message for those looking to jump headlong into birding: “Go out there with the attitude that you’re just going to enjoy yourself and enjoy nature.”

Craig Clohessy: Your way of snapping pictures of birds and other wildlife is called phonescoping. What is phonescoping?

Ken Bonner: You take a regular spotting scope like you would use for bird-watching. They make adapters you can attach your cellphone to the eyepiece on the spotting scope, so then you’re able to take a picture of everything you see.

The phone I’ve been using up until recently is an older Samsung S7 that has a good camera on it. I should add they make an adapter that you can add a camera onto your spotting scope also.

CC: Do you also use a camera on the scope or just your phone?

KB: I just use the phone. I’m really not a photographer. I do have a camera now, but I just shoot on auto and get good pictures. But it’s easier just to attach your cellphone, because anybody can do that. You don’t need experience; you just start taking phone pictures through the scope. I do edit the pictures. You can put an app on your phone to edit the pictures, enhance a little bit, you know, but it’s just simple. That’s the nice thing about the whole hobby is it’s simple.

CC: You’re considered to be something of a nest whisperer, meaning you have this knack for finding nests for owls and other young birds. What’s your trick?

KB: The main trick is just spend lots of time outdoors, and I don’t get in a big hurry when I’m outside. I enjoy being out there.

CC: Are there official or unofficial rules for when you’re photographing young birds that are still in the nest? You don’t want to disturb them.

KB: Yes, for sure. There are written rules of the American Birders Association. They highly discourage even photos of birds in nests. You should just stay away, keep a distance. When you see an owl, for example, on a nest, I can take a picture from a longer distance with a scope and hopefully not disturb anything, but you should never approach a nest, and you really should never show a photo of babies in a nest.

CC: And is that because you don’t want to let folks know about it because there’d be those who may not be responsible?

KB: Yes, that’s part of the problem. Some people might intentionally do harm, and then also if you get 20 photographers lined up taking pictures they don’t mean to do harm, but they could be causing stress on the birds. It’s just something you have to be really careful with.

CC: Do you have a favorite bird or species of bird that you like to photograph?

KB: I’d have to say the owls. I guess to me it’s more exciting to see an owl, but I really enjoy all of the birds, too. The owls will look at you, and with a scope I can get close up to their face — it’s just interesting.

CC: I hear your wife, Teresa, joins you on your many photo adventures. What’s her role in all this?

KB: I’ve been telling everybody that she is my brains. She is like 10 times smarter and has a better memory, and she can tell me what I did yesterday. We enjoy the outdoors together, and it makes it twice as much fun. She’s not necessarily an avid birder, but she has taken an interest and learned a lot along with me too.

CC: It’s got to be a fun way in retirement to be outdoors and experience nature.

KB: That’s our hobby is the outdoors. We like riding a UTV and being outdoors and hunting and fishing and camping. That’s kind of our thing.

CC: I understand you sell some of the photos you take. If someone wants to buy one of your photos how do they go about doing so?

KB: I’m public on Facebook, so they can see me there and see the photos I post. Of course I’m also in the phone book. I’ve attended two of the shows in the last year called “Inspired by Nature” that Randy Squires started. I had a booth there with a lot of my prints for sale.

The first show was on Main Street at an old antique store, and then the last one was up at the Seaport room at the what’s now the Hells Canyon Grand Hotel. And we’ll have another one in August at that same place.

CC: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

KB: Another really nice thing in phonescoping is you can put an app on your phone called Merlin. Once you get a close-up picture of a bird, you can do a photo ID on that bird right on the spot. And then I’ll go to Wikipedia, and I can read all about that bird. It just turns you into a kind of overnight expert on birds.

Clohessy is managing editor of the Tribune. He may be contacted at cclohessy@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2251.