As a long-time birder that recently added digital SLR photography to my toolkit, I tend to agree with Alan Tilmouth's (on the blog) and Michael Sledjeski's (on Bristol Birds) comments.
I have found that I can often ID a distant bird with an image that I could not with my 10x binos. I now do not bother to get the scope out as often, but turn to the digital camera and quick zoom first. I have found that I learn details about a bird from my images that I would have missed in the 2 second observation window that was available.
I have also found that I end up with many digital images to view and organize. This has become an enjoyable part of birding to me, and I have made it a habit to make notes on each image that I choose to keep. This to me is a far more accessible set of notes than field notebooks, which I have kept in a somewhat desultory fashion in times past.
Allen Boynton
Troutdale, VA
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