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.
About
Franziska Consolati
Franziska Consolati (née Bär) is an author and adventurer. She had barely reached adulthood when she embarked on one of her first trips with Bedouins through the Sahara. Somewhere between the desert dunes, she lost her heart to our planet. Since then, she has traveled over half the world, immersed herself in foreign cultures, and explored wild nature beyond beaten paths. Each step has heightened her realization of the urgent need to take action to protect our Earth. Franziska worked for an environmental organization for four years before becoming a freelance author focusing on both travel and environmental protection.
