Bird bands help researchers track the movement of birds. Now there are bands for your optics that can help you get them back should they go astray. It’s an idea working at the moment in Maine, where it began. For $20 you register your binoculars or spotting scope with the state, receiving a ring-like metal band that goes on the optic’s carrying strap. The band carries a registration number and a state agency phone number.  If you leave the binoculars on that park bench in post-life-bird excitement, the number can put them back in your hands. The money produced by this project in Maine goes into its endangered species fund. In Minnesota, it could go to our non-game wildlife department, perpetually under-funded, with worse probably just over the hill. Here’s a way for birders to contribute, and to protect what is likely their most costly birding investment: wild land and good glass. Perhaps best of all, the band on your optic strap lets everyone know that you’ve done a bit more than your share. Right now, that’s important. Hunters and fishermen contribute by purchasing licenses. Birders can buy the band. Hey, DNR: Let’s do it.Â

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