LaMNA Data Tools

Data Visualizations - Progress Report

We are excited to report on recent advances in creating visualization tools for banding data. Visualization tools create maps, tables and graphs, and are used to make analyses of data accessible to a wider audience. Because data are compiled through the Landbird Monitoring Network of the America’s (LaMNA) process into a specific format, the programs creating visualization tools can easily be produced and used on any spatial, time, or taxonomic subset of data. The latest tool is called Summary Plots and Analyses Tables (SPLAT). The SPLAT visualization tool was created using the R open source software environment for statistical computing and graphics (http://www.r-project.org/). We hope to have this tool available soon. For further details on SPLAT, please read the report below.

Rousseau, Josée, C. John Ralph, and Ana Paula Bertoldi Carneiro. 2011. Report summarizing products completed in relation with site-specific agreement between Ducks Unlimited, Inc (DU) acting as a representative of the Pacific Coast Joint Venture (PCJV) and Klamath Bird Observatory (KBO). 8 pp.

Band Tracking Tool

We partnered with Pablo Elizondo and Aves de Costa Rica in their efforts to track bird bands that they assign to permittees from their office. Together, we created a data tracking system that will allow them to keep track of permits, contacts, band inventory, and bands assigned and returned.

This band tracker has been up and running in Costa Rica since 2009. Pablo Elizondo reports on the program in the October 2009 LaMNA Newsletter. As of April 2011, they had issued more than 1,000 bands.

With a few modifications, this program can be modified for other organizations to use in their operations. In 2010, we adapted this tool for use by Centro de Ornitologia y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Peru.

We will soon make the database available with sample data that you can download (the entry portal is pictured here). You will be able to work with the tools and queries, as well as enter new data as you explore how the database functions.

Banding Data Entry Program

Computer technology has advanced to the point that it is very feasible to have laptop computers in the field to enter data as it is being collected (or at least on the same day!). To assist you with data entry, we now have banding data entry programs available for you to download. These are standardized programs for the variables in the Bird Monitoring Data Exchange database. Contact Linda Long if you encounter problems with these files. We will have forms for entering effort data soon.

• Access 2003 database. The file opens to a data entry form. It will automatically create a unique record ID for each record as it is entered. It also has data entry filters for month and day.
  • LaMNA Access Banding Data Entry Program
• Excel 2003 spreadsheet.
  • LaMNA Excel Banding Data Entry Program

We continue in our efforts to develop a banding data entry program to enter both net hours (information on the collection day and location) as well as individual bird data. The two types of data will be directly linked. It will allow users to have as fine a detail as the open and close times on individual nets for a given day.

One of the concerns with any data recording system is the amount of errors that creep in due to misrecorded data or typographical errors. Our program will include data validation rules that allows (or doesn't allow!) certain characters in a field; for instance, in the field for month, you would not be able to enter 13. There are over 40 different validation rules to ensure the highest data quality. Any identified errors can either be corrected or retained and highlighted. Rules could be changed based on data collection protocol at an individual organization. We will have a beta version here soon!