The following sites provide information about optics used for birding:

Eagle Optics
Better-View-Desired
optics4birding.com
birding.about.com (click on Birding Equipment)
Birdwatching.com
BirdForum.net
B&H Photo and Video (click on Binoculars and Scopes)
Christopher's Ltd at astronomics.com (click on the tab for binoculars and spotting scopes on their main page).

The following links provide information about digiscoping or the technique of taking photographs with a digital camera attached to or held up to a spotting scope. These pages includes many other references to digiscoping.

shortcourses.com
birdingamerica.com
laurencepoh.com
digibird.com

The following businesses is not meant to be inclusive or exclusive. Corrections or other suggestions may be sent to WebEditor.

State College stores offering low priced optics:

Wal-Mart
Target

State College stores offering medium and higher priced optics and accessories:

The Camera Shop
Dick's Sporting Goods

The Lost Creek Shoe Shop near Lewistown, PA has a large selection of many different brands of binoculars and spotting scopes including Bausch & Lomb, Celestron, Kowa, Leica, Swarovski, Swift, and Zeiss, and they also sell Bogen tripods. They have an excellent outside covered observation deck that looks out over fields, streams, hills and distant mountains which provides a good setting for evaluating the optics.

The Lost Creek Shoe Shop can be reached at the number 717-463-3117, but most of the time, including store hours, someone at their answering service will answer the phone. You may leave your name, a phone number for returning your call, a preferred time to return your call, and a message.

Store hours:
Monday and Friday 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
All other days except Sunday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Sunday closed.

Directions: To get there from State College, PA (about an hour), take Route 322 about 12 miles beyond Lewistown and take the exit marked 35N and proceed on 35 northeast for 3.9 miles toward Oakland Mills. As you enter Oakland Mills, watch carefully for the left turn and an easy-to-miss sign for the shop. Turn left (a large stone house is on the left at the turn), go .6 miles and the Shop is on the left. If you reach McAlisterville, turn around and try again.