|
|
The location where a bird is banded or subsequently encountered is defined by the 10-minute block of latitude and longitude. For example, 48 degrees 34 minutes N, 113 degrees 49 minutes W would be reduced to 483-1134. In areas of North Longitude and West Latitude (including most of North and Central America), the coordinates of the southeast corner of the 10-minute block are used, but different corners are used in other sections of the world. See Direction Codes for more information.
Banding locations are currently expressed as a Lat-Long or 10-minute block in the computerized records at the Bird Banding Laboratory. The latitude and longitude are converted to a 10-minute block by using the first three digits of the latitude followed by the first four digits of the longitude, using the initial zeros in all cases. For example, 39 degrees 05 minutes N and 75 degrees 17 minutes W would be coded as 390-0751. The latitude and longitude are not "rounded off" to the nearest 10 minutes but rather the last digit of minutes is dropped.
In the Western Hemisphere, north of the Equator, the latitude and longitude code represents the southeast corner of the 10-minute block within which banding occurred. Locations south of the Equator or in East Longitude are similarly coded by dropping the last digit of minutes. If the bird has been transported, the banding location shows the lat-long where the bird was released.
For translocated or rehabilitated birds, always use the coordinates for the release site as the banding coordinates.
Direction Codes (Worldwide 10-minute block corners)
Mexican State Codes (10-minute blocks 000-0001 to 000-0031)
Inexact Coordinates Codes (###-###7, ##8-###8, ##9-###9)
Useful web sites dealing with location information for North American banders
