David Schneider

5 min read Inexpensive parts can be assembled in a bucket to make an effective acoustic bird detector. James Provost Birding is booming. You may realize your local nature spots are especially busy during seasonal migrations, when birds move between their summer and winter grounds. Species that you had been noticing disappear may have been replaced by ones that hadn’t been there before. Or you may have seen migrating birds on the wing—say, a flock

4 min read A secondhand DSLR with a telephoto lens can capture astronomical images with a little help from software and a clamp [right] to keep the focus steady. James Provost I hate the eye strain that often comes with peering through a telescope at the night sky—I’d rather let a camera capture the scene. But I’m too frugal to sink thousands of dollars into high-quality astrophotography gear. The Goldilocks solution for me is something