I'm a retired deputy sheriff from Wisconsin recently moved to Washington
because of family. I always carried a pair of binoculars with me on patrol
in the urban to rural county I patrolled. The binoculars were for things
other than birding (watching kids sneaking a smoke at school, looking for the
bad guy, or looking for hazmat numbers on trucks when approaching accident
scene). But they did come in very handy for birding on those very quiet
weekdays. With them I was lucky enough to watch an osprey foraging for fish
over a millpond or watching a goshawk floating over backyards playing on a
fall wind.

Unfortunately, dropping the fact you are a birder will not, repeat not, get
you out of a traffic ticket. Maybe coming up with a truly original excuse
for speeding, such as "I was being harassed by a red-tailed hawk and was
trying to get away" might get you a break because the officer would be
laughing to hard to be able to hold a pen to write out the ticket.

Keep those binoculars handy..........