Pete Dunne is one of birding’s best known ambassadors and has served as the Director of New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory for over seventeen years.  An authority on birders and their optic needs he has served as a consultant to all the major optics companies and been instrumental in the development of such celebrated instruments as the Swarovski EL and Bausch and Lomb Elite.  In addition to authoring books, articles, and brochures on optics and their use, Pete is the founding editor of the “Tools of the Trade” column in Birding magazine and writes many of the product reviews found on this website.

Don Frieday is Director of Birding Programs for the Cape May Bird Observatory.  His favorite optics test so far: dropping a pair of Zeiss 7x42 Classics 20 feet onto a rock wall (they survived).  The runner up: fishing a Leica scope out of Hereford Inlet and using it for the rest of a birding competition.  A birder for twenty-five years, Don has led tours in Arizona, Colorado, California, Montana, Newfoundland, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, among others, and has observed birds and other wildlife in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Kenya.  Don has been a member of the CMBO/Carl Zeiss Optical birding team in the World Series of Birding for seventeen years, and was on the Bushnell/Birder’s World Team in the Great Texas Birding Classic for five years.  A regional coordinator for the New Jersey Breeding Bird Atlas, Don is also a member of the N. J. Bird Records Committee and of the executive board of the N.J. Chapter of the Wildlife Society. 

Jason Guerard is the Sales Manager for the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Northwood Center.  Here in the thick of it all, Jason is no stranger to optics use and abuse.  Either helping a member pick out the right optics for them or rushing out to see whatever rarity may be in the vicinity, he uses optics daily.  A veteran birder, he has sampled almost every variety of binoculars and scopes on the market.  Coming from a field biologist background, Jason also knows how important it is to have a durable pair of binoculars which will stand up to the brutality that birders put them through.  Having developed a close working relationship with the manufactures that CMBO carries, Jason has first hand knowledge of new and improved models long before they reach the market place.  He has developed an “Optics Loaner Program” at the Northwood Center where customers can actually field test optics on their own terms for a day or two.  You can also join Jason on his “Test Drive the Optics” walk which he offers in both the spring and the fall.

Laura Guerard is the Manager of website operations for BirdCapeMay.org and FeatherEdge Optics.  Laura has been working with Audubon programs at various centers for over eleven years.  Through birding and her environmental educational work with a diversity of participants and groups she understands that one size does not fit all.  Whether working to outfit a class with affordable optics or assisting an individual find the perfect pair to suit their needs, she has the buyer’s interests at heart.  Laura understands, first hand, the rigorous tests we put our optics through.  Her first pair of Nikon Action 8x42s survived a dunk in the murky swamp waters at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park while on an orchid excursion; that is, after drying on her windowsill for a week.  They are now in the hands of a close friend who has caught the passion for birds.

Brian Moscatello has been a professional naturalist for more than twenty-seven years and has birded from Trinidad to Bonaventure Island, and from Attu to the Galapagos. Now the Sales Manager for Cape May Bird Observatory’s Center for Research & Education in Goshen, he looks forward to helping you avoid his past optical mistakes.  Brian spent his entire first summer’s wages on a Newtonian reflecting telescope. With two adjustable mirrors and a ring-mounted 6x finder scope, he soon learned the importance of collimation. Birding overtook his passion for astronomy and soon he had his first “birding” binoculars. As an eyeglass-wearer, following anything in flight with 10x50 Binolux binoculars with hard plastic eyecups presented a challenge. They were soon replaced by another 10x50 Porro prism—this time with fold-down rubber eyecups. Over the years he has used a succession of other optics large and small. He may be the only member of the FEO Team who birded with an army-surplus scope with a three-eyepiece rotating turret.