Notes about your surroundings.

Tools of the Trade--With the fall bird migration already under way--the shore birds are arriving, with land birds due in the coming weeks--would-be bird-watchers might want to think about investing in a set of binoculars, an essential tool for distinguishing the many species that will make an Orange County appearance.

Sylvia Gallagher offers a few tips to students in the birding skills workshops she heads for the local Sea and Sage Chapter of the National Audubon Society. Among them:

* Select a magnification power of 7 to 10; 7 or 8 is adequate for most beginners, she says.

* On binoculars, the magnification is followed by a second number, as in 7x35. This second number, which measures the amount of light reaching the retina, should be between four and five times the first number (the magnification).

* The closest distance at which the binoculars can focus should be no more than 15 feet. Some models offer significantly closer focus than that.

* Eyeglass wearers should look for something called “long eye relief,” which gives a greater field of view to compensate for having the eye farther back from the scope. With some scopes, she says, “it’s like you’re looking through a soda straw, the field is so limited.”

Cost can run more than $1,000. A decent pair of binoculars for a beginner will cost “the better part of $100,” Gallagher says. “You get what you pay for.”

For experienced birders with money to spend, two binocular models are now hot: the 10-power Bausch & Lomb Elite and the Zeiss 10x40B. These “Cadillacs” cost about $800, Gallagher says.