I've done a lot of birding these past few years on my bicycle, mostly because I always keep an eye out for birds, no matter what I am doing and I bicycle more than just about anything else I do, except perhaps, sleeping. This winter, though, I've fallen in love with cross country skiing, so, naturally, I have been carrying my
compact binocular and doing some birding on skis. I am happy to report that ski poles make an excellent impromptu monopod for a
birding binocular, so the combination of
XC skiing and birding is definitely a go. In fact, I seem to be able to get closer to birds on the skiis than when walking or bicycling. Might be the unusual movement or the silence, but it does seem to make a difference. For sure, XC skiing is much quieter than crunching through the snow on foot when the snow has a crust. This is all so much fun, maybe I'll add canoeing and
birding this summer.