"Some birds have made a nest on our front porch," Mary phoned to tell me, "and I just want to know how long it will be until they're done and we can use our front door again."

The barn swallows clearly considered Mary's porch their personal property. Once the eggs hatched, the swallows swooped at perosn who stepped onto the porch. Yet the family did find a way to coexist that made eveyone happy.

No one makes binoculars that are brighter or clearer than Leica's. And as always, Leica offers a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturer's defects. However, when Leica introduced the new Ultravid HD binoculars, they changed the part of the warranty which covers accidental damage, from lifetime, to three years.

We do still have a few Leica Ultravid binoculars in stock that carry the lifetime warranty on accidental damage. Leica says they will honor it on binoculars that carry that warranty. But when those are gone, there will be no more.

Photos of man and boy © Michael and Diane Porter
Picture of barn swallow is detail from painting by James Audubon.