Manfrotto 128RC Micro Fluid Tripod Head

The Manfrotto 128RC is a reliable standard fluid head, very adequate for any spotting scope up to 88 mm. I use it with my 65 mm Swarovski, having upgraded from the less sophisticated head on a Bogen 728B, and appreciate among other factors that the mounting foot of the scope fits directly into the head receptacle, which frankly, ought to be a standard practice in scopes, eliminating the need for the small square mounting adapter.

I do suspect that the smaller and lighter 700RC2 would work adequately for 50-60 mm scopes, but am not quite sure if the head receptacle directly fits a Swarovski foot. For other scopes without that convenient feature, that's not really an issue.

Regardless, for use with a spotting scope, any type of fluid head facilitates the scanning that good scoping requires. Any head can aim a scope at a flock of American Wigeon to see a representative bird, but to find that elusive Eurasian Wigeon, you need to scan ALL of them!