When going out butterfly watching, the key is to have binoculars that can give you good close focus.
Often when we go out on our butterfly walks, the individuals that we’re looking at are just a few feet away and while we may be able to identify them without using binoculars, when you do use them you can see so much amazing detail and color that the butterflies become that much more beautiful.
Some binoculars will focus as close as just 3 feet and this is excellent for butterflies but other excellent models will focus clearly to 5 or 6 feet and this works really well too.
In addition to looking at butterflies, close focus binoculars are great for looking at dragonflies and other insects as well as birds, wildflowers and mushrooms, among other things. There are so many incredible details in nature but we often don’t see because we aren’t focused in on them or are looking too quickly. Looking through binoculars can really help, both to slow us down and to give us the good views we need.