Overview
Project Name
Bird Banding Lab
Access Level
Open
Year started
1960
Year Ended
Ongoing
Dataset
North American Bird Banding Program (2000-2009)
About
Dataset summary
The North American Bird Banding Program is administered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL), Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge (EESC) and in Canada by the Bird Banding Office (BBO), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). This long-term dataset (1960-2025) consists of over 85 million bird banding, encounter and recapture records of over 1,000 bird species covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).
Geographic area covered
Global extent with focus on North America, U.S. Territories. Central America, Caribbean islands, South Pacific islands. 98% of banding records are located in NW quadrant of Earth.
Primary species covered
All Migratory Birds
Goals
Bird banding data may be used to study avian movements and distribution, wildlife diseases, longevity and demography. Data are also used for developing effective science, management and conservation practices of gamebirds and songbirds.
Methods
Sampling Design
Each year data are retrieved from NABBP database and stored as a static dataset to be used in the data request page. To translate coded values a set of files with lookup tables is provided along with data results package. Each original band number and bander permit number has been given an obfuscated alias. There are two event types: bandings and encounters. Encounters are derived from two different record sources, encounters and recaptures. Bird species names in encounter records are verbatim, as reported by finder. Encounter species may have been reported as unknown. Certain codes are specific to banding records (for example bird status, extra_info, age, sex) and some codes are specific to encounters (how obtained, present condition, minimum age at encounter). Minimum age at encounter is calculated from age of bird at banding to date of encounter. Banding or encounter locations from United States or Canada include subdivisions (state/province); all other countries are reported as country only. Restrictions are applied to protect exact locations of gamebirds and sensitive species. Gamebirds, as defined in lookup table species.csv have locations generalized to country, state or 1-degree block. For raptors and endangered species, locations are generalized to a 10-minute block minimum resolution. All other species locations have coordinate precisions as reported.
Field methods
Methods are unknown for individual contributors, unless part of a standard project such as Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) protocol, or guidelines established by the BBL North American Bird Banding Manual, North American Banding Council (NABC) manuals (nabanding.net/other-publications/), or other published accepted methods.
QA/QC
Incoming data must pass through 50 logical filters before processing into database. A few examples of logical accuracy tests include: Band numbers reported by banders must match band numbers issued to the permit. For a particular band number, species reported at time of original banding must match any subsequent encounters for that band number (species mismatch filter). A bird cannot be re-trapped if an encounter record with a present condition of "dead" already exists in the database. Terminal encounters in database: If present condition is one of unknown-removed (02), dead-unknown (03), dead-left on bird (04), dead-removed (05), alive/released-removed (08), alive/in captivity-removed (11), alive/unknown-removed (14); and count above is 0, count the number of records in the band history table with this band number, band event type =3 (encounter), present condition one of dead-unknown (03), dead-left on bird (04), dead-removed (05); and latest possibility for inexact date earlier that the earliest possibility for inexact date of this record. If count gt 0, then assign “2nd terminal encounter in database” (Enc Error ID 5= true) and enc error group D (duplicate).
Advice
Data are contributed by US and Canadian bird banding permit holders: federal, state, tribal, local government, non-government agencies, business, university and avocational biologists. Banders capture wild birds and mark them with a metal leg band with a unique 9-digit number. Extra markers may be added. Attributes such as age, sex, condition of bird may be included. Prior to data release, all locations for sensitive species and gamebirds are generalized to larger areas; 10-minute and 1-degree block coordinate precisions respectively. Sensitive species include diurnal raptors, US Threatened & Endangered, and Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA) species. Gamebirds include waterfowl, cranes, rails, woodcock, doves, crows and ravens. Data are curated at BBL daily, therefore each yearly version may differ from previous releases. Incoming data must pass validation rules to meet quality standards; however, data accuracy is ultimately determined by contributors. It is imperative to properly use BBL and BBO codes. Please review inexact date codes and other inexact codes such as coordinates precision before assuming a record is in error. Records with inexact dates, e.g., 01-51-2000, and How Obtained codes 50, 56, 70, and 98 should not be used to compute age/longevity, or for survival analyses. Sixteen lookup tables are provided for decoding records. These same codes may also be found at:https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory/science/understanding-bbl-codes BBL terminology is important as well: an encounter refers to a sighting or direct encounter with a banded or auxiliary-marked bird by any person; recapture denotes a banded bird recaptured during banding operations. In this dataset, most locations are generalized to 10-minute block or 1-degree block. Two polygon shapefiles are provided for visualizing these blocks. See also https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/manual/inexact.php
Partners
United States Geological Survey
Citation
Environment and Climate Change Canada and United States Geological Survey. 2025. "North American Bird Banding Program (2000-2009)". Data accessed from NatureCounts, Birds Canada.
