Concurrent with the addition of the banding extension (BMDE-Banding version 1.38) to the Bird Monitoring Data Exchange (BMDE), we have expanded the BMDE to include some additional fields that were necessary to fully describe avian datasets. This expansion takes the BMDE from 111 fields in version 1.35 to the current total of 130 fields in version 1.38. The entire BMDE and its field definitions can be viewed here.

The BMDE is a living schema; as such, it will undergo revision periodically to accommodate new ways in which people collect and record data. We plan to undertake revisions no more than once each year, because these changes require extensive databasing work.   We are always willing to entertain thoughts and ideas about additional fields that would improve the ability of the BMDE to describe observational data on birds. If you have any thoughts or comments on the BMDE, please email one of the AKN Project leaders: Marshall Iliff (mji26@cornell.edu), Brian Sullivan (bls42@cornell.edu), and Chris Wood (clw37@cornell.edu).

Below is a summary of the new fields:

• ProtocolType: Broad categories of protocols, such as Point Count, Transect, Area Search, Banding, Aerial Survey, etc. The previous BMDE field Protocol is similar, but describes a very specific protocol (e.g., 5-minute point count with distance sampling in 50-m bands and no flyovers counted). This field is useful for analysts who might want to quickly isolate surveys of a given count type.
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• ProtocolURL: The URL of the reference used to describe the protocol specified in the field ProtocolCode.
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• SurveyAreaPercentageCovered: This field documents the percentage of a survey area that was covered in an Area Search. Thus, if an area search was designed for 80 acres, and the sampling event (Area Search) covered only 20 acres, this field would read 25.
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• DistanceFromObserver: This field is added to the pair of fields DistanceFromObserverMin and DistanceFromObserverMax, to describe values (in meters) when the distance to the observer is known, rather than described as a range of values. The definition of DistanceFromObserverMin and DistanceFromObserverMax has been revised slightly to clarify how to use these three fields.
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• ObservationDescriptor: Other descriptor that provides further information on the behavior or location of the specimen observed, using a standard vocabulary. Proposed values include "Flyover" and "Outside Sampling Area".
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• SpecimenDecimalLatitude: The latitude from which a the individual record was collected, in cases where the main coordinates described above represent a centroid for the entire sampling event. For the most part, this is used for specimen collections, but could be used for observational datasets also if a particularly unusual record had unique coordinates that were not captured by the coordinates described in DecimalLatitude and DecimalLongitude.
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• SpecimenDecimalLongitude: As for SpecimenDecimalLatitude, but for the longitude.
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• SpecimenGeodeticDatum: As for SpecimenDecimalLatitude, but the Geodetic Datum for the latitude and longitude values.
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• SpecimenUTMZone: The UTM zone from which the individual record was collected, in cases where the main coordinates described in DecimalLatitude and DecimalLongitude represent the centroid for the entire sampling event.
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• SpecimenUTMNorthing: As for SpecimenUTMZone, but the UTM Northing value.
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• SpecimenUTMEasting: As for SpecimenUTMZone, but the UTM Easting value.
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• DateUncertaintyInDays: Uncertainty, expressed in number of days, about the ObservationDate, in cases where the exact date is unknown. This will be a rarely used field, but may be useful for historical records where an observation was made in “May 1901” but the exact day in May was unrecorded. In this case, ObservationDate would be entered as 15 May 1901 and DateUncertaintyInDays would be 15.
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• SpeciesCode: Alphanumerical code describing a species (e.g., CORA = Common Raven, Corvus corax). Should be provided only when taxonomic fields are translated from original species codes. In these cases we encourage data providers to both provide the ScientificName (or CommonName) and the SpeciesCode. These codes are used most often by banders, but are sometimes used by other data collectors as well. The most widely accepted set of codes can be viewed at here.
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• BreedingBirdAtlasCode: Breeding bird atlas code (e.g., NY=Nest with young), using North American Ornithological Atlas Committee standard codes. 
  
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• HabitatDescription: A general description of habitat at the survey area. Given the wide range of habitat classifications throughout the hemisphere, this is meant to be a pretty basic descriptor (e.g., grassland, hardwood swamp, spruce-fir forest, etc.). Vocabulary is not standardized.
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• Remarks2: This is a free text field for additional remarks, not already included in the BMDE field Remarks. Some survey protocols may keep separate remarks for the sampling event and for the record, and this field provides an opportunity to isolate those two fields or any other set of text comments that should be stored separately from the Remarks field.
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• LastModifiedAction: Possible values could include: update (changes to existing AKN record); insert (new record); or delete (record removed, indicating that this record should be permanently excluded).
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• RecordReviewStatus: This field documents the current review status of each individual record. For certain data sets individual records are reviewed with more scrutiny than others, by data owners, by specialized institutions, or by peers. This field captures the level of review that a given record has received. For example, a given dataset might not review a record of 100 Savannah Sparrows, but 100 Baird’s Sparrows would be reviewed. Possible values include “no review needed”, “reviewed and accepted”, “reviewed and not accepted”, or “pending review.” Individual data providers will decide whether to provide “reviewed and not accepted” records to the AKN; with the use of this field, providers have the option of exposing even those records that they might otherwise reject.