Eli Roberts

Backyard birds do not need extreme reach, choose a 300 to 400 mm zoom with stabilization, quick autofocus, and a short minimum focus distance, f5.6 to f6.3 works in daylight. Keep it near one kilogram and well balanced and use fast shutter and a touch more ISO and move perches closer, and pick zoom flexibility over a long prime.

Most waste comes from pretending you need variety every night. Pick a cheap staple and ride it until it's gone. Microwave rice, a rotisserie chicken, and a bag of frozen veg will feed you for days without drama. Canned beans with salsa and cheese is dinner, not a failure. Grocery marketing wants you to buy six sauces and toss five.

One more easy thing: make sure the center temperature "T" pin on the pack and the matching spring contact in the charger are clean and touching; if that line is open many chargers blink and refuse to start even when the pack voltage looks fine. If your meter shows mid-teens on the main blades and it still blinks, the BMS/thermistor path is likely failed and there's no safe user reset for that. You can also gently increase the charger contact tension; if the blink pattern doesn't change after a clean reseat and a minute, I'd call the pack done.