Birder Shorthand: demystifying the code of banders

Shorthand, Alpha Codes, Banding Codes, they come under a number of names. They’re all the same thing though, those combinations of four letters that represent the name of a certain species. Every bird in the US has an Alpha Code assigned to it. There is however a slight difference between Alpha Codes and Banding Codes since not every species in the US is banded. More on that later.

So how do we figure out all these codes? There are some 800 or so of them, far too many to memorize.  But why memorize 800 Alpha codes? It’s easier than that. Simply memorize the rules. It’s a lot easier.

What are the rules? Below is a summary of all the rules you need to work out any Alpha code:

#1: Two word names. These are the most common names. Things like Harlequin Duck, American Robin, Magnolia Warbler, etc. Birds with two common names are easy to translate over to Alpha Codes. Simply take the first two letters of the first name and the first two letters of the second name and voila!  Harlequin Duck becomes HADU, the Robin becomes AMRO and Magnolia Warbler becomes MAWA.

#2: Three word names, hyphenated and non-hyphenated.   American Black Duck, Black-capped Vireo, Fulvous Whistling-duck.  This is the tricky one. Use the first two letters of the first name and the first letter of the second and third names. Hence AMBD.  But, when the first name is hyphenated, use the first letter of the first two names and the first two letters of the last name. Thus: BCVI.  When the last name is hyphenated, use the first two letters of the first name and the first letter of each of the last names. Thus: FUWD.

#3: Four word names, hyphenated and non-hyphenated: American Three-toed Woodpecker, Black-bellied Whistling-duck, Black-crowned Night-heron.  The rule here is the first letter of each name is used.  Thus: ATTW, BBWD and BCNH.

#4: Some birds have one word names. These are easy. Simply use the first four letters of the name. Therefore: Bushtit becomes BUSH, Wrentit becomes WREN and Sora, well, I think that one’s too easy.

#5: Now it gets slightly trickier. Some species Banding Codes overlap. Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, Black-throated Green and Black-throated Gray Warblers.  The rule in this case is to use whatever letters (going in order from left to right) the other name doesn’t have.  Thus: Bar-tailed Godwit becomes BATG and Black-tailed becomes BLTG because the second letter in the first name of both birds is different from the other.  Black-throated Green Warbler becomes BTNW and Black-throated Gray becomes BTYW. Why? Because the middle (third) name of both species is different but the first two letters of those names are the same. Therefore, the last letter of the third name is used.  Because Black-throated Blue Warbler has a different first letter in its third name, it is simply BTBW.

 

What about some species that have four-letter hyphenated names?  The best example is Black-and-white Warbler. This is the same rule as before. Simply: BAWW

But what about birds like Barrow’s Goldeneye and Barnacle Goose?  Both would have the banding code of: BAGO.  This is where Alpha Codes and Banding codes differ. The Alpha codes for both species would change.  Barrow’s Goldeneye becoming BARG and Barnacle Goose becoming BNGO.  However, if you are a bander, this is easy. Barrow’s Goldeneye remains BAGO and Barnacle Goose, being a rare bird in the US, has no official banding code and therefore you don’t have to worry about confusing them.

 

Now, let’s work out those other species that overlap.   There’s not that many, so it might be good to memorize these.

Here they are, and here’s why:

Let’s start easy. Northern Shoveler and Northern Shrike.   The key with codes that overlap is to remember that BOTH OF THEM CHANGE.  Therefore, Shoveler would be NSHO and the Shrike would be NSHR because the first name is the same and you cannot use any other letters from it than the first letter so you have to use 3 letters from the second name. Make sense?  N orthern SHOveler and N orthern SHRike.

How about Cerulean Warbler and Cedar Waxwing?  Definitely not CEWA right?  Because the last names start with the same two letters, and the first names don’t, we start with the first name. Order takes priority.  Thus: CERulean W arbler and CEDar W axwing.  CERW and CEDW.

What about 3-word names like Ring-necked Pheasant and Red-necked Phalarope? Fortunately, if you know where you are, or where your checklist is from, you usually won’t have any problem distinguishing these. But, since we can’t use 3 letters from the last name and the first two letters are the same, we have to take from the first name.  Thus Ring-necked Pheasant becomes RINP. However, REDP would conflict with Red Phalarope. So would REPH (which incidentally is the banding code for Red Phalarope) so this is one of the few exceptions where only one of the codes changes.  Hence, Red-necked Phalarope remains RNPH.

What about where 3 names overlap?  Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow and Bahama Swallow.  Bahama Swallow is only included for Alpha Code reasons, not for Banding code. Remember that Bahama Swallow would be rare and does not have an official Banding Code.  In Alpha Code, the first names of each species is different. Therefore: BARS, BANS and BAHS respectively.

Another example is Canyon Wren, Cactus Wren and Carolina Wren.  First 3 letters of the first name, first letter of the last name. Therefore, Cactus Wren becomes CACW and Carolina Wren becomes CARW. Canyon Wren becomes CANW.

Got it yet?  See how simple this is?

 

Here’s a table of all the species code overlaps I could come up with:

Northern Shrike and Northern Shoveler = NSHO and NSHR respectively

Ring-necked Pheasant and Red-necked Phalarope = RINP and RNPH (remember, this one is one of the few exceptions to the rule that both codes change)

Cerulean Warbler and Cedar Waxwing = CERW and CEDW

Black-throated Green and Black-throated Gray Warblers = BTNW and BTYW

Tree Swallow and Trumpeter Swan = TRES and TRUS

Heerman’s Gull and Herring Gull = HEEG and HERG

Prairie Warbler and Prothonotary Warbler = PRAW and PROW

Blackpoll Warbler and Blackburnian Warbler = BLPW and BLBW (This rule, because the first name is a single, un-hyphenated word, you use the letter that starts the second syllable)

For Alpha Code purposes: Bullers Shearwater and Bushtit = BULS and BUSH

Colima Warbler and Connecticut Warbler = COLW and CONW

Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow and Bahama Swallow = BARS, BANS and BAHS

Cactus Wren, Carolina Wren and Canyon Wren = CACW, CARW and CANW

 

That’s only 12. Not too bad eh?

 

 

So let’s review the rules again:

#1: two word names: first two letters of the first and last names. American Robin = AMRO

#2: Three-word names. First two letters of the first name, first letter of the last name, unless the first name is hyphenated then use the first letter of the first two names and the first two letters of the last name. If the last name is hyphenated, use the first two letters of the first name and the first letter of each of the last names.   American Black Duck = AMBD, Black-capped Vireo = BCVI and Fulvous Whistling-duck = FUWD.

#3: Four word names: First letter of each name is used. American Three-toed Woodpecker = ATTW.

#4: One word names. Use the first four letters of the name. Bushtit = BUSH, Sora = SORA

 

 

#5: Species that overlap. This is the trickiest one.  Remember order of priority. Start from left to right.
Two word names: start with the first 3 letters of the first name and first letter of the last name. If that conflicts with another species, then use the first, second and fourth letter of the first name, first letter of the last name. If that conflicts, use the first letter of the first name and first three letters of the last name. Canyon Wren = CANW, Cactus Wren = CACW and Carolina Wren = CARW.

Three word names: Use the first two letters of the first name, first letter of the middle name and first letter of the last name. If that conflicts, then you use the first letter of the first name, LAST letter of the middle name and first two letters of the last name. If that doesn’t work, use the first two letters of the first name, LAST letter of the middle name and first letter of the last name.

Four word names: Use the first letter of the first two names, LAST letter of the third name and first letter of the last name.  Black-throated Green Warbler = BTNW, Black-throated Gray Warbler = BTYW.

 

Pretty simple eh?  As with anything, there are the few rare exceptions to the rules, however, for the most part, these rules should word for you and as you become more familiar with using banding/Alpha codes you’ll learn what the exceptions are.  You’ll also learn to recognize common codes like AMRO (American Robin), BCCH (Black-capped Chickadee), DEJU (Dark-eyed Junco), etc.  And don’t worry if you draw a blank, I do too sometimes.  With practice, you’ll get to know the majority fairly well.

One other thing I’d like to note before I head out here:
If you’re the only one looking at them (i.e. in your notebook, eBird checklist, etc), as long as you know what the four letters stand for, you can use whatever combinations you want to represent the species. Nobody says you have to use the “official” ones unless posting to a listserve (which most listserves require you to type out the bird’s name at least once) or actually doing banding.

Anyway, have fun and I hope this clarified things for some of you. If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I’ll answer them as best I can.

Til next time, Happy Birding!

Share on Facebook

You may also like:

1. I’m Not Paranoid, I’m Just a Birder
2. CROS
3. Want to see a Lucifer Hummingbird?
4. Book Review: The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds
5. Southeast Arizona: A birder’s paradise (pt 2)

Tagged as: BAHS, BANS, BTYW, LAST, RNPH, US