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Bill Thompson, III |
Watching birds is exciting when you are encountering unfamiliar species. For most of us this means carrying a field guide along to help with the identification process. Today's field guides can be quite bulky and heavy--certainly not back-pocket stuffable. And you may want to carry more than one!
The most comfortable method I've found for carrying my preferred field guide is the Pajaro Pack. This handy unit belts to your waist (or across your shoulders) and distributes the weight evenly. I've carried one nearly all day without feeling the weight of my field guide. And it keeps my guide handy and my hands free for use on my binoculars.
The Pajaro Pack's main pocket is large enough to accommodate our largest North American field guide (Sibley) or mulitple smaller guides (I often carry Kaufman's Birds and Butterflies guides). The pouch closes securely with a plastic clasp.
Additional pockets in the Pajaro are great for snack bars, lip balm, a lens-cleaning kit, pens, cellphone, notebook, checklist, sunglasses--whatever the discriminating birder could want in the field.
There are other guide packs available from gear manufacturers. Swarovski Optik is even venturing into the birding gear realm with a new line of high-end field-guide packs, backpacks, scope packs, and more.
For me the original, affordable, and durable Pajaro pack is hard to beat.
