Hi Tweeters

And there I thought I was just saving bandwidth by using a shortened form
of a bird's name.

I'm a v.e.r.y. s.l.o.w. typist, and I can't afford to stay long on the
BBS's each day, so 4-letter codes help when I'm replying directly to
someone's posting. As the local hotline guy I have to write up many birds
per day (the horror! The horror!). Well, OK, hotshot, you try writing up
the complete names of birds many times a day, every day, every week, every
month, for several years. For *free*! I began to feel like a kid writing
lines after school. The fierce joys of many-times-over repetitions of
'Sharp-tailed Sandpiper', 'Short-billed Dowitcher', 'Black-crowned
Night-Heron', and 'Northern Rough-winged Swallow' guttered out after about
five weeks, to my recollection. Wonderful to say, but a dad-burned *chore*
to write up about nine godzillion (actually about 1,500-2,000) times a
month. Now, when writing stuff up, SHSA, LBDO, BCNH, and NRWS are welcome
second nature.
Depending on the number of reports, I have--literally--an extra half- to
two hours per day to misspend.

Long live the four-letter BC Museum codes (see below)! Use of these codes
results in a time saving of up to 80%--90% in compiling lists and reports.
It's the difference between using a calculator and counting on fingers, or
walking miles to town and riding a bus. And it's an organisational axiom
that the more time expended on a rote activity in a system, the less time
is available for thinking about how to improve that system (or goofing
off).

I lack the temerity to suggest that everyone use them, but I mention them,
and use them moderately in context as a timesaver in postings. If anyone's
interested in these codes (as well as birds, they've been devised for all
other known BC vertebrates and would certainly be applicable in the rest of
the region. A tiny, wicked, seductive voice whispers "Cascadia...") they're
contained in a BC Ministry of Environment publication called:

Wildlife Habitat Handbooks for British Columbia: Standard Taxonomic List
and Codes of Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals
R.W. Campbell and A.P. Harcombe, 1985
ISSN 0825-2769 or ISSN 0829-7797
Wildlife Habitat Research WHR-20
Wildlife Report No. R-11

I'm not sure if this address is still current:
Information Services Branch
Ministry of Environment
780 Blanshard St.
Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8V 1X5

I don't know if they'll cost you bux, or what amount. Any BC birders out
there who know?

Nearly all of the codes are straightforward, a few counter-intuitive and
goofy, but heck, they save hundreds of people a day from the heartache of
writer's cramp or the miseries of carpal-tunnel syndrome. Savin' time, I
can't begin to tell--

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca