USFW has official four-letter codes which are used in bird banding, I'm guessing
these are the same ones used in Canada since the bird banding lab processes
all birds caught in North America. The birdlist processing program BirdBrain
allows one to enter fourletter codes then generate list with standard English
or latin names. I have been told that the PC list processor Avisystem (or
something close to that will do the same thing).

There has been a lot of discussion about which 4-letter code is best. I don't
have a choice as a bird bander. I doubt the USFW is going to change their
entire data base no matter how much better it is.

As to using them on e-mail...
I received a string of really nasty messages for using 4-letter codes from
someone who thought they lacked beauty among other things. Not everyone who
watches birds is a pragmatic scientist interested in disseminating information
in an efficient manner. I might recommend the following guidelines:
1. Do not use codes for hotline reports.
2. Use the full name at least once in a transmission (perhaps with the code
following parenthetically).
3. Be polite in your replies to newbies who don't know what you're talking
about.

I like the 4-letter codes and use them all the time, but I recognize the fact
that some people find them threatening in a manner akin to changing the name
of Green Heron to Green-backed Heron (and then back again). Being a member of
this big happy community forces me to be more sensitive...I hate that.


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


(some stuff deleted)

>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
>
>
>

--
******************************** Nothing at the top, but a bucket and a mop
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * and an illustrated book about birds
* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * see a lot up there, but donUt be scared.
******************************** Who needs action when you got words? KC