Are Birds Afraid of Binoculars?

So I'm participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count and there it is...calmly perched there, preening, stretching, looking around and just hanging out.  The bird is not quite close enough for me to tell exactly what it is, so I need to grab the binoculars.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I turn to pick up the bins and without even breathing, I raise them to my eyes and, wait!  Where did it go?  The bird has vanished.  Gone, out of there, disappeared.  Hasta la vista, Bird Watcher.

This happens far too often to be circumstance or luck.  There is something else going on here.  After decades of watching birds, I’m convinced that they are terrified of binoculars.  Maybe birds are frightened by the two very large, shiny eyes suddenly looking their way.  I know this idea is a stretch, but the only other possibility is that the birds are just toying with us.  Whatever the reason, they see binoculars and they’re gone.

I can just see them now - a group of birds like little school kids, hiding behind a nearby tree, out of breath from the quick get-a-way, saying, "Wow, he almost saw us that time!".