Inexact Date Codes

These codes are used primarily when exact dates cannot be obtained. Banders should rarely need to use them.

Month Inexact Codes
CODE	DESCRIPTION	EXAMPLE
82	Summer (06/21/YYYY thru 09/21/YYYY)	82/99/YYYY
83	Spring (03/20/YYYY thru 06/20/YYYY)	83/99/YYYY
92	Winter (12/21/YYYY-1 thru 03/19/YYYY)	92/99/YYYY
93	Fall (09/22/YYYY thru 12/20/YYYY)	93/99/YYYY
94	Hunting Season (09/01/YYYY thru 03/31/YYYY+1)	94/99/YYYY
99	Unknown month and day of banding or encounter	99/99/YYYY

 

Day Inexact Codes
CODE	DESCRIPTION	EXAMPLE
41	1st ten days in month	MM/41/YYYY
42	2nd ten days in month	MM/42/YYYY
43	3rd ten days in month	MM/43/YYYY
45	encountered during special hunting seasons	MM/45/YYYY
51-81*	Encounter letter date or postmark date (plus 50)	**
99	Unknown day of banding or encounter	MM/99/YYYY

* 50 is added to the postmark date or the date the encounter letter is received or processed at the BBL because no encounter date was provided or the reporter stated they did not know when the bird was encountered.

** For example, the date code 12/65/1970 indicates a letter from the finder had a postmark of 12/15/1970 but they did not include an encounter date.

 

Year Inexact Codes
CODE	DESCRIPTION	EXAMPLE
0000	Unknown year of banding	MM/DD/0000
9999	Unknown year of encounter	MM/DD/9999

For encounters with unknown year, year of postmark is used. In this case, an inexact letter date is also present.