Black-shouldered Kite and The Digiscoping Experience so Far

These shots of a Black-shouldered Kite reinforce my view that I was right to stick with digiscoping. I estimate the bird was at least 1 kilometre away when I photographed it Sunday in the Huay Mai Teng area. I was aided by late afternoon sun being directly behind me lighting up the bird and there had been a good amount of rain beforehand clearing the atmosphere. The second photograph is a crop of the first but to my eye the detail is still reasonably clear, though rapidly approaching the limit. 

Let's put it this way: 12 months ago I would have been delighted with a shot like this using any equipment. I have absolutely no doubt that the Kowa 25x LER eyepiece connected to the Nikon P6000 is one of the best digiscoping combinations. More experienced hands assert it is the best combination and some say the Kowa eyepiece is the best digiscoping eyepiece on the market at present. 

I could have used the 20-60x  eyepiece and zoomed the lens to bring the bird closer but I know from experience I wouldn't have managed to get anything approaching the relative sharpness and detail of these shots. These days I use the 25x LER eyepiece for digiscoping and use the zoom eyepiece for watching only. I do use the 25x LER for watching too of course.

I have to say I am a little frustrated with a lot of my recent shots. I sense I am just missing a little in sharpness and exposure at times largely because, I hasten to add, I am an impatient so-and-so! However I was looking at some of my work from six months ago and I must say the overall improvement is striking. I sense there is even better to come, a lot better...! I need to master Photoshop too but unfortunately that will be time-consuming not to mention expensive!

I am very glad to be able to show these shots as I feared I had inadvertently deleted them. I'll take better shots, for sure, and I would really have liked to get in close on this fellow, because its red ruby eyes really do give it a very malevolent appearance. However they are decent record shots and  good examples of the real potential in digiscoping.