Here is the web page for the USGS Patuxent Banding Codes. It's where I learned and at l;east used to be the definitive ones.
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/MANUAL/aspeclst.htm Doug Chapman Sioux Falls, SD On Oct 22, 2008, at 9:11 PM, Refsnider wrote: > At the risk of further beating a dead horse, here are the rules used > by > the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) for > constructing 4-character species codes ("alpha codes") from the common > names of North American birds. After unsuccessfully searching the BBL > web site, I obtained this material from > http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/z/nom/bblrules.html. > > Perhaps more than you wanted to know, but a few folks had expressed > interest in the "rules." > > ---Ron Refsnider > ========================== > > > *The BBL code system: Rules for forming the codes* > > The US FWS Bird Banding Lab codes were introduced in: > > Klimkiewicz, Kathleen, and Chandler S. Robbins. Standard > abbreviations for common names of birds. North American Bird Bander > 1978, 3:16-25. > > Codes are formed using these rules: > > 1. If the name consists of only one word, the code is taken from the > initial letters, up to four: > > DUNL Dunlin > DOVE Dovekie > OU Ou > GADW Gadwall > > 2. If there are two words in the name, the code is made from the > first two letters of each word: > > AMWI American Wigeon > EAME Eastern Meadowlark > > 3. For three-word names where only the last two words are > hyphenated, > the code uses two letters from the first word and one each from > the last two: > > EASO Eastern Screech-Owl > WEWP Western Wood-Pewee > > 4. For other names with three words, the code takes one letter each > from the first two words and two from the last word: > > RTHA Red-tailed Hawk > WWCR White-winged Crossbill > WPWI Whip-poor-will > > 5. For four-word names, the code takes one letter from each word: > > BCNH Black-crowned Night-Heron > ASTK American Swallow-tailed Kite > NSWO Northern Saw-whet Owl > > A /collision/ is a situation where two or more names would > abbreviate to > the same code using these rules. > > The Bird Banding Lab decides what code to use in these cases. If one > name is far more common than the other name or names involved, > typically > the common species gets to use the name. In most cases (e.g., Lark > Bunting and Lazuli Bunting) when both birds are common, the collision > code is not used, and unambiguous substitutes are provided for both > forms. > > > > > --- > This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' > Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at > http://moumn.org/subscribe.html > . > ----- > To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with > a subject of unsubscribe. >
