How long have I been sitting here? What a good question. Long enough for my eyes to be dry from not blinking enough, and for my lungs to be strained from holding my breath. But also long enough to marvel at the bird that finally dares to come out from under the gable of the observation tower. This young bird faces a long journey ahead: When young swifts leave their nest, they spend several months almost permanently in the air. By the end of their lives, swifts have travelled a distance that would take you to the moon and back – five times.
At first glance, swifts are rather inconspicuous birds. A specimen that I certainly wouldn't pay any attention to, if I didn't know about its truly amazing abilities. But when we see something that we have read and heard about, it exerts a very special fascination on us. The more we know, the more precisely we perceive our surroundings. This is not a new realization, though – even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote:
This statement may sound rather philosophical to begin with. However, there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon:
Our consciousness and everything we perceive is linked to our experiences. Put simply, this means, we'll see the swift more often, when we know that it exists and learn about its special features. Of course, the same goes for peregrine falcons, which can see their prey clearly up to a distance of three kilometers. For snipes, who don't even have to move their heads to get a 360-degree panoramic view. And of course, this also applies to wild geese, which cross the highest mountains in the world on their migration journeys.
We only see what we know. And what our binoculars know. Yes, you got that right: The AX Visio is the first pair of binoculars, which knows more than we do. At the touch of a button, the AX Visio helps us recognize birds and other creatures. We learn more with every observation. The AX Visio is our window to nature. The first smart binoculars that don't require us to know anything – and still enable us to see everything.
Chi è
Franziska Consolati
Franziska Consolati (nata Bär) è un’autrice e un’escursionista. Appena raggiunta l’età adulta, intraprese uno dei suoi primi viaggi attraverso il Sahara con i beduini. Tra quelle dune di sabbia, è maturata la sua passione per il nostro pianeta. Da allora ha viaggiato in oltre mezzo mondo, si è immersa in culture straniere e ha esplorato la natura selvaggia al di là dei sentieri battuti. Passo dopo passo, è cresciuta la sua consapevolezza dell’urgente necessità di intervenire per proteggere il nostro pianeta. Franziska ha lavorato per quattro anni per un’organizzazione ambientalista prima di diventare autrice freelance: dedicandosi ai viaggi e alla tutela dell’ambiente.