North American Bird Banding Summary Retrieval File

[For a more detailed metadata record, see:
"http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/brd/brd_birdband.html"]

The Banding Retrieval File contains summarized records for data
through the last full calendar year for all game birds banded since
1908, and for all nongame birds banded since 1954. A summary record
includes all birds of the same species, age and sex, with the same
status and additional information codes, banded under the same permit
number, within the same region and 10-minute block of latitude and
longitude, during the same month and 5-day banding period, the same
band type, and band number prefix.

The Banding Retrieval File contains over 9 million records
representing over 50 million birds processed through August 1995. The
file increases by approximately 1.2 million birds each year.

Data are displayed in the following order: species number, region,
year, permit, month, day code, status and additional information, age,
sex, latitude, longitude, direction code, prefix and part of band
suffix, total number of birds. A file format is included with all
disks to assist the user in separating the fields. Listings have the
fields separated and identified.

The numerical codes in the data can be translated with the aid of the
Bird Banding Manual, vol. 1 part 5. Status code in the first column
indicates that something was done to the bird upon recapture that
changed the orginal status.

Includes range of North American species. Range includes breeding,
wintering and migration locations. Wintering ranges can include South
America, Africa, Europe. Breeding can occur as far north as the
Arctic. However, the species being studied are North American species.

Data and software tools to analyze the bird banding data can be
obtained from the anonymous ftp site: