Excerpted from Ralph, C. J.; Geupel, G. R.; Pyle, P.; Martin, T. E.; DeSante, D. F. 1993. (<http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/gtr-144/04-constant.html>)
PRBO Conservation Science does not assume any responsibility regarding the accuracy, utility or completeness of the data for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. We strongly recommend that the data be acquired directly from PRBO Conservation Science and not from an independent third party, which may have modified the data after obtaining it. PRBO shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.
PRBO Data Sharing Policy November 2003, Updated May 2008
It is PRBO policy that data should be shared whenever possible while considering the tradeoffs between widespread distribution of data sets, the need to assure data quality and validity, and the privacy rights of land owners, as applicable. The general rule is that data should be released as soon as possible, along with documentation that can be used to judge data quality and potential usefulness.
PRBO believes that the intellectual investment and time committed to the collection of a data set entitles the investigator to the fundamental benefits of the work. Therefore, publication of descriptive or interpretive results derived immediately and directly from the data is the privilege and responsibility of the investigators who collect the data. This is one of the primary motivations for scientific data collection, and the scientific method is supported by this principle.
PRBO encourages its scientists to anticipate that most data collected will eventually become part of the public domain, and recommends that procedures be employed to facilitate this sharing, such as concurrent metadata generation, data verification, data entry, and data backup.
Data for which there are no associated metadata, or which have not been verified, should not be shared. Data that have not been used for peer-reviewed publication should be shared with caution. Data used in publications should be ready for public distribution at the same time as the actual publication. Data relevant to public policy should be shared as quickly and widely as possible. All PRBO data that have been shared should be maintained in a fashion that facilitates its continued public accessibility. This includes the need for data versioning, informing users when there have been important changes to public datasets. However, PRBO has no obligation to inform anyone who has received data from the organization of subsequent changes (such as corrections, additions, deletions) to those data. Data collected on private lands may be subject to more extensive sharing restrictions, depending on agreements between PRBO and landowners. Some contractual agreements may preclude sharing (or publicly posting on a web or FTP site) of some PRBO data.
PRBO maintains numerous datasets, including several with hundreds of thousands of records covering 20 or more years and involving multiple investigators. PRBO recognizes that these datasets can be used for many purposes, either on their own or through combination with other data. Any researcher making substantial use of a dataset should communicate with the investigators who acquired the data, or those to whom responsibility for the data has been entrusted, prior to publication. In most cases these researchers should anticipate that the data collectors or current managers would be co-authors of published results. PRBO will encourage and facilitate the ethical and courteous use of data within its archives.
PRBO will maintain a record of all data access and will notify those who access the data that they may be the intellectual property of PRBO. PRBO requests that the appropriate PRBO scientists and PRBO be acknowledged in any publication, report, presentation or the like using data that have been collected by PRBO scientists. Before any agreements to share PRBO data are reached, including posting on a website or FTP server, the specific case must be discussed with the relevant PRBO Division Director as well as with the Science Director and/or Executive Director as appropriate. The requesting party(s) and Division Director must sign a specifically crafted data sharing agreement, memorandum of understanding, or a copy of this Data Sharing Policy acknowledging that all involved agree to abide by its recommendations. A copy should be filed with the Division Director and with the appropriate PRBO data manager.
Any costs that PRBO incurs in the process of providing or maintaining public access to its datasets should be reimbursed. These costs should be considered at the project proposal stage for new data, and at the data request stage for legacy data. Costs include hourly wages for persons responsible for data maintenance and retrieval, as well as indirect costs for maintenance of computer equipment and backup systems.
Developed by Grant Ballard, revised per feedback at PRBO's 2003 Science Retreat and with additional revisions and approval by the PRBO Management Team, November 2003. PRBO reserves the right to modify, revise or supplement this policy, as it deems appropriate.
Survey locations on private land have been excluded at the domain level and are not included in this dataset.
The original data are collected according to the MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) protocol.
Normalizing data into an internal data model.
Exporting data into Bird Monitoring Data Exchange (BMDE) format.
These processes are all ongoing and continuous as new data are added, or additional precision is calculated on existing data.
SIZE: Band size = 0, X, 1, 2, 3, etc. Use RE for recaps.
INITIALS: Banders initials.
CODE: Band code, i.e. N =new, R = recap, U = Unbanded, C= Changed, L = lost, D = Destroyed.
BANDNUMB: Enter complete band number: if not banded enter a 0. If hummingbirds are banded, replace the alphabetic code with the numbers it represents (Y = 3000, etc).
SPEC: Enter 4 number AOU code.
AOU: Enter AOU 4 number code.
AGE: 0,1,2,3,4,5 6,7.
HA1: How aged? J,H,A,L,W,C,B,I S,T,E,F,M,P,R,X, V or 9.
HA2: How aged? J,H,A,L,W,C,B,I,S,T,E,F,M,P,R,X, V or 9.
SEX: M,F, or U.
HS1: How sexed? J,H,A,W,C,B,I,S,T,E,F,M,P,R,X or 9.
HS2: How sexed? J,H,A,W,C,B,I,S,T,E,F,M,P,R,X, or 9.
SKL: Skull pneumaticization.
BRP: Brood patch:0,1,2,3,4.
CLP: Cloacal protuberance:0,1,2,3.
FAT: Fat: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
MLT: Body molt: 0, 1, 2, 3.
FFM: Flight feather molt: 0 (absent), F (flight feather molt), or A (adventitious molt).
WWR: Wing wear: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
FDL: Fade line: 0, 1, 2, 3.
WING: Unflattened wing chord length, in mm.
WGHT: Weight in grams.
STAT: 000 if not banded, 300 if USF+WS band only, 301 if color banded, 615 if severely injured (and banded), 636 if held in captivity.
DATE: mm\dd\year.
TIME: 3 numbers only rounded to the nearest 10 minutes, using 24-hr time. (1:15pm become 131).
LOC: PN,PS,G1,G2,G3,G4,OG, and 4 digits for offsites (PGUP, PIGU, MUHO), etc.
SITE: Net number or nearest single grid point.
TCR: Tail or crown measurement, in mm. For OCWAs and WIWAs whose crowns did not get measured be sure to enter 999. If crown = 0 be sure to enter it; do not just leave it blank.
TAR: Tarsus length, in mm.
NEWCB: If this is a changed color band combination, or the first time the bird is color banded, use "T" for true. Otherwise "F' for false.
COLORS: Color band combination (e.g. OS/OO).
INJ: Injury codes - see above or list under Utilities menu in banding program.
RES: Was injured bird released? Treated? See result codes above or in Utilities menu in program.
COM: Put a "T" for true if there are notes on back, and if not, F for false.
PROJECT: Enter appropriate project (Palomarin for all west Marin sites).
OLDBAND: # of the band that was removed from the recapture if the band was changed.
NOTES: Enter notes from backside of sheet. Tail length, tarsus measurements, color combinations, etc can be entered in the appropriate fields and do not need to be double-entered.