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Instructions for entering bands v 0.5

Intro

Currently these instructions are sparse but will grow as time permits. I encourage you to email me at mherzog@brant.bio.uaf.edu with any suggestions you may have on clarity of the form, or information in this "manual".

Right now the goal is to create a banding submittal form that is easy to use, does correct error-checking for incorrect band codes, and provides users with information on their data. To this extent the program is done, however I envision many improvements in speed, and after additional comments and ideas a more user friendly form.

I encourage everyone to use the form with the "just-for-fun" option to their hearts content. However, I would also like to encourage people to submit bands read "officially." This data will be recorded and subsequently used later in survival analysis and other brant research (much of the research found (or will be found when I get to it) on the current research page utilizes banding return data from both band observers and hunters.

What follows is a description of each field on the band form. Enjoy! and thanks for using the brant band form.

User Information

We ask for some basic information about the band reader. This information will allow us to reach the band reader/hunter if there is confusion on a specific band. This will allow a final bit of error correcting and data validation.

Last Name, First Name

This is the band readers Last Name and First Name.

Phone Number, Email Address

This is the only contact information we request. If you use email regularly enough, that is the all you need to enter.

The Band Data

This is the information we would like to receive about a band. It is requested that a date and location be entered on all "official" band entries. You need not know the exact location. Just get us close (e.g. Northern California)

Date: Month, Day, Year

Please enter a numeric value for month(e.g. January = 01,Feb=02,etc.), day, and year.

Metal Band

Probably not information most band readers will have (unless you have really good eyes!). However, it does confirm plastic band codes, so it is made available for hunters to enter.

Plastic Band

The most important field in the form :)
Black brant bands are 3-character leg bands that have been placed (for the most part) on the right tarsus and are read from bottom-to-top. There are exceptions. Click-Clack bands were placed on brant in 1987 and 1988 at the Tutakoke Field Camp in western Alaska (Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta). These bands consists of two separate bands with one character on each band. When next to a catch pen of newly banded brant, the most resounding sound was the clicking and clacking of the two plastic bands on the legs of newly banded birds....hence the name. These bands are read top band-bottom band (e.g. "K over D"). These bands are entered into the band form as "space-K-D" ==> [ KD]. Many of these bands may look white due to age, however all click-clack bands are yellow.
Not all letters in the alphabet are used for band characters. An attempt was made to keep similar looking characters to a minimum. The following bands are available on all plastic bands:
A,E,G,H,K,L,N,R,S,T,V,Y,Z,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Here are some additional characters that can be seen but only under some conditions... Hearts (C) - These can only be found as the first character on a white band. Since my computer doesn't have the heart button, we use the letter C to designate a heart band. D - The character D can only be found on a click/clack or a yellow band. Also, if the band is a three character band, the D can only be found on a band that starts with either A,D,E, or G. [U,(asterisk),+(plus),-(minus),_(underscore), ?(question mark)] - These are newer characters, added to increase the alphabet. We were running out of bands, and did not like any of the new band colors available. Instead, we allowed the first character of a band to be any of the above characters. Currently, these characters are only found as the first character on a white band. Also, several of the characters have not been placed on brant as of Summer 1998. The band program will not allow these unavailable characters to be entered. The currently available characters are underlined above.

Band Color

The following colors have been used on black brant:
Yellow,Orange,White,Gray(Silver),Green,Red,Blue, and Aqua. The yellow,orange,white and gray/silver were placed on brant captured on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Western Alaska. Blue bands were placed on brant captured in Northern Canada. Red bands were placed on brant captured on Wrangell Island in Northern Russia. Green and Aqua bands were placed on brant captured on the North Slope of Alaska. Some day you will be able to click <here> and see scanned images of each color band.

Location of Band Reading/Recovery

This is the box where a descriptive location where the band was read would be entered. At the very least please put a general location of where you were. Northern California, or better yet.... Morro Bay, California, or better yet.... South Side of Morro Bay, or better yet.... etc. etc. etc. (actually, I think Morro Bay,CA would do!)

Longitude and Latitude

For those of you that know or can find out the long/lat of your location.... these blanks are for you! Just another way of pinpointing a location. The idea here is when I get enough time, this program will actually create a map that shows where the bird has been seen. It will have to work off of coordinates such as Long/Lat. In order to have the most recent entry included on the picture, I would need to know where to put it. (That's a long-way off).

"Just for fun" vs. "Official" option

This is included in the form to allow people to have fun finding out the history of a brant that has already been (or will be) entered by your or someone else. This option allows the band reader this option, and does not submit the information to our official database file. Everyone is encouraged to have fun with the form and the information. Please use the official option for those band readings you would like to submit into the banding record.
By the way, this information does not go to the Bird Banding Lab. I talked to them a year ago and they said they had programmers working on a web-based submittal process, but I haven't seen anything yet. All for now!... Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. HAVE FUN!!!