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Note: The database and its information, consisting of over 7000 cases, is available to
those who wish to use this information for serious study
to further their knowledge or other's knowledge in support of wild bird welfare.
To receive a copy, send a request to kitchubb@sympatico.ca or to b-sutton@hughes.net including a brief description of your background and interest and indicate how your work will be of benefit. |
The Avian Care and Research Database now contains information on over 7100 cases. I have a record of every bird which has ever arrived at our clinic.
Each bird is examined and during the examination, much information is recorded and then entered into the database. The information is entered using a specially designed form. As well as including many measurments, I also enter my diagnosis. Treatment and results are recorded in case history. Subsequently, information can be retrieved by specifing various criteria and producing a report which lists only those cases which satisfy the specified criteria.
The samples below show information about a Common Loon, case # 3514.
The form shows that this particular loon arrived at the clinic June 12, 1991 having originally been found in Deseronto. The information such as Raptor (Yes or no), Class (Hawk, Owl or neither), Age (After Hatch Year), HY (Yes or no) are used for analysis studies. Sex of the bird is sometimes very difficult or impossible to determine. The sex is recorded as Male, Female or Unknown. Admission weight, general condition are noted as well as wing cord measurements. Both wings are measured if there is a difference. The History describes as much of the background as can be determined. Note that loon suffered from heatstroke, presumably brought on by lack of air circulation and the insulating qualities of the cooler in which it was transported.
(Note: The following three images will not likely fit on your screen but have been left the size they are to make them readable.)
I can perform various investigations and analysis by getting lists of cases which match specified criteria. These criteria are specified in a form called "The Search". The sample below shows a report request restricted to only Common Loons. It will include all those cases where the word "land" can be found in the Diagnostic field. If I had wanted to further restrict the search I could include a second word in the diagnostic area. Similarly, if I had included a word in the History portion in this form, only those cases with that word in History as well as the words specified in the Diagnostic areas would be include in the list produced.
The list shown below was produced using the criteria specified in "The Search" above. Each of the 26 cases listed are Common Loons with the word "land" in the Diagnostic field. The Weight and date ranges specified are set up to include all records but could be changed to further limit the cases chosen. The arrival months items are used to restrict the choice to a range of months, independent of the years in which those particular cases arrived. This allows me to look at only those cases admitted in the winter months for instance.
