Great idea. Now, the Maine Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife should add 
Birder Band Deluxe, which attaches to the birder instead of the 
binoculars. That way if the birder wanders off and can't remember the 
way home, the person who finds the them can look them up in a database 
and point them in the right direction. :-)

-- 
June Tveekrem
Columbia, Maryland
tweekiebird|AT|southernspreadwing.com
http://SouthernSpreadwing.com

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THE BIRDING COMMUNITY E-BULLETIN
March 2009

[SNIP]

BIRDER BAND: HELPS BIRDS IN MAINE, HELPS SECURE BINOCULARS

Steve Walker and Judy Camuso from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife have come up with an innovative way for birders to support
Maine's non-game bird activity, and at the same time label their binoculars
with a lost-and-found system.

The Department has started selling metal "Birder Bands" which can be easily
locked onto binocular straps. Each of the Birder Bands has a unique
registration number and each has the phone number where lost and recovered
optics can be reported, thus allowing the Department the ability to notify
the registered owner and then reunite him/her with their binoculars.

To participate in this system, each individual band costs $20 per year, with
the funds going to state-based bird conservation projects.

For details, see:
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/endangered_species/birder_band.htm