Gee, I'm sorry everyone for my dumbass mistake yesterday. There's no excuse.
I should probably have waited till I got home and could actually see what I had typed into the tiny cellphone keyboard. It won't happen again, at least I hope not. So now would be a good time to end this thread and let these lists go back to their intended purposes. R. Guthrie On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 1:27 PM ArieGilbert <ariegilb...@optonline.net> wrote: > I went in search of the VG.... er, Violet-green Swallow, and did not catch > up with it - though I did catch up with Richard Guthrie. > > Most if not all of us like short cuts, which include banding codes. They > may serve banders well who use them professionally and are intimately > familiar with that group’s vernacular, but for others, it can ( and > obviously does ) lead to discord. > > I admit that at times being stumped by a code whose meaning escapes me. > While there may have been temporary frustration, speaking for myself it > does not foment much ado. To me, its no different to throw a HERG into the > text, as it is to throw in the terms remiges, or patagial bar. I can look > it up, because I have an interest in birds and birding and it’s a learning > experience. > > When I am unfamiliar with a term I used to look it up in the dictionary. > Now, all I have to do is double-click to highlight the word, right-click on > it, and select “ search google for (the word)”. For band codes, I use the > Sibley app when necessary. It allows one to search for a bird by band code. > Mystery solved. > > Yeah, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and incorrect band codes etc > can interrupt the cognitive flow, but I suspect that some do not want to be > ‘inconvenienced’ by having to do such odious work as ‘looking it up’ or > knowing that the author used the wrong choice between they’re, their, or > there. Oh well. > > In lieu of band codes I have found simple abbreviations to work as well if > not better in saving my lazy self from the tortuous chore of spelling out > the complete name. W pel may be easier than AWPE, for example. At other > times I have found that 3-3 is better than the standard 2-2 of band codes. > BarSwa and BanSwa eliminates one of many collisions that are inevitable, > and only requires 2 more letters typed! > > Even the spoken word has room for simplification; one might say > “Rough-wing” instead of Northern Rough-winged Swallow or “Moe Doe” instead > of Mourning Dove. I enjoy the portmanteau and find that Redhatch rolls off > the tongue so much better than Red-breasted Nuthatch; as does Americrow, > Rublet, and many others. > > So while an erroneous band code may be upsetting to some, trust me, its > nowhere near as upsetting as attempting to relocate that swallow several > hours distant and not succeeding. > > At least peak migration is just around the corner! > > Arie Gilbert > North Babylon NY > > > Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Richard Guthrie <richardpguth...@gmail.com> > Date: 4/22/21 2:44 PM (GMT-05:00) > To: NYSBIRDS_L <nysbirds-l@cornell.edu>, Hmbirds <hmbi...@groups.io> > Subject: [nysbirds-l] RWSW Not yet > > Several birders here. No swallow > > Yet > > Rich Guthrie > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Richard Guthrie -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
