How to submit banding data

The New Zealand National Bird Banding Scheme (NZNBBS) curates all data about bird banding nationally. 

Use the Bander's Data BOX

Record all outstanding banding and recovery data (no matter how old) as well as a list of all bands held in stock. All banders must submit their banding records and band stocktake to the Banding Office annually using the Bander’s Data BOX, a standardised Excel template. However, you are encouraged to do so more often.

Bander’s Data BOX (v.FALCON.1) (XLSX, 4,583K) 

Email to: bandingoffice@doc.govt.nz

Tabs/worksheets to complete

• Description + Help provides a detailed description of fields, including comments.
• Bands is the worksheet where you enter all of your data, including bands held, schedules, resightings and recoveries and anything else that happens to a band.
• The Examples worksheet provides a useful set of examples of data entry for various scenarios
• Lookups lists all codes used.
• Species lists the species code and species names, as well as recommended band sizes. You can use the filters to search.
• BanderNumbers lists the NZNBBS numbers of all registered banders (up to the date of the template version)
• RegionMap for quick reference of Region codes
• Explanation of ColourCodes used for colour bands, with examples
• NZNBBS_Code: Life cycle of a bird band – this provides an explanation of the NZNBBS_Codes

All submitted data will be error-checked, so double-check:

• correct formatting of fields (text, date, number, etc.)
• no duplicate records of "first marking" or "Dead: Recovery"
• correct band size used on species (refer to Species tab)
• band used for first marking has been issued to the Level 3 operator listed
• band life cycle chronology is not violated (refer to NZNBBS_Code tab)
• bander certification number and name matches

How the Data BOX differ from the previous template

Stocktake (bands issued), schedule (band/transponder data), resighting and recovery data are now entered onto a single spreadsheet. Bands that are lost, used for training or transferred to other banders are also recorded here. The NZNBBS_Code field is used to distinguish between these.

The idea is that you retain a master sheet with all of your records, adding data as you band and resight birds. To submit data, you simply select those records not yet sent to the Banding Office (filter for blank "Sent_date" rows) and copy those to a new spreadsheet to send.

The Permit lookup has been removed. However, it's still your responsibility to ensure that all capturing and marking of birds is carried out according to the conditions in the relevant Wildlife Act Authority (permit).

Use Decimal Degrees (WGS 1984) to fill in the Latitude and Longitude GPS coordinates, without any letters or symbols (remembering that latitude South and longitude West should be negative numbers). To obtain the coordinates of a location by clicking on a map or entering an address, or to convert between DMS and DD, go to GPS Coordinates website.

There are several fields that can be used for project-specific data, morphometrics, moult, breeding success, temporary marks (e.g. wing tags, Transmitters), samples taken, museum accessioned, egg weight, etc. If you use these columns consistently for certain data, then you can upload and download the data for your own use without needing to store this data separately from the banding or resighting records. These fields are not compulsory, but you can use this to ensure that all relevant data linked to a specific band (or transponder) number are kept together.

Contact

Contact the Banding Office if you have any queries. We're compiling a list of frequently asked questions – feel free to contribute.