iband7: IBP banding data entry system

Time is encoded as “HHM”, with the units digit of the time dropped. On the data sheet, the fourth digit of this field is pre-printed as a zero, to remind banders to drop the fourth digit.

In theory, this time is based on 24-hour time, but in practice, a number of banders use 12-hour times in the afternoon. Sometimes when the tens digit of the hour is zero they will enter the time in this field as “HMM. ” In such cases, sometimes it is obvious what they did (e.g., “925” is clearly 0925).

This field is sometimes left blank.

MAWS sets for the same field season all carry the same year, which is the year after New Year's Day. For dates in November and December, the year in the output record will be the year of the encounter, and this will not match the year of the field season. For example, a record from date 11-07 from field season 2004 refers to date 2003-11-07, not 2004-11-07.