Jeff is right. The best blinds/hides I have experienced are exact same ones he
mentioned in the UK and at Mai Po Marsh in Hong Kong. And for the same reasons.
Getting close to the birds without scaring them is so much more intimate. Yes,
the photography is far easier, but for people who are new to looking at birds
or don’t have good optics, it is magical to be that much closer to them. I
would think it would increase the connection between people and the natural
world.
There is a new blind at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, Texas, that
we saw this past November. It is called the Indigo Blind. It was designed by a
birder/photographer that is adjacent to a water feature that is ingenious.
There are benches to sit on but it is the design of the wall between observer
and birds that we had never seen. Instead of having set openings which are
often the wrong height depending on one’s size, almost the entire wall
consisted of rectangular hinged panels that used magnets to keep them open. I
wish I had a photo of what the design looked like. But you could open any of
the panels to fit your height. So often the openings are either too high or too
low.
Shawneen Finnegan
Beaverton, OR
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