Interesting Blair. I've been "nailed" a number of times by posting on Tweeters using the banding codes. SO, I've taken to using the full name of the species in the subject line and then reverting to the banding abbreviation in the body of my post. Know what you mean about trying to send a post "on the spot" and I've got to admit I've blasted off a few doozies with misspellings and weird grammar. So it goes - gotta get the word out!

Tom Mansfield in Seattle.

-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Blair Bernson
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 6:23 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Use of Banding Code Abbreviations and Some Observations on the Stilt Sandpiper (STSA) at Eide Road

I earlier posted that the STSA was still being seen at Eide Road. It was done "on the spot"
quickly by phone from someone else's car. I wanted to get the message out right then so that anyone interested would know it was still there (for the 6th day and see further below). I used the banding code using the abbreviation because it was easier and quicker. Interestingly I got a half dozen offline emails pretty soon after my post.
Half were from birders appreciating the update and asking for further directions and half were from birders who had no idea what an STSA was. I was pleased to get the former and responded to help.
Tweeters is a wonderful resource for the community to share information and I strongly support the requirement that email addresses be included for all posters.

It was also good to get the emails on the use of abbreviations instead of the full species name.
It reminded me that tweeters reaches a broad and diverse audience and I could have given more thought to that in posting using just the banding code. In fairness anyone reading tweeters could have seen the several recent naming a Stilt Sandpiper at Eide Road and figured it out but that might be easy to say and not so easy for a new birder especially to do or if those earlier messages were not seen. I myself generally do not like or use the banding codes. Some are easy to figure out but some are well...esoteric...especially when not just the straight forward two letters of each of the two words in the species name when that would lead to duplication. It is FAR more useful to use the whole species name to avoid any confusion or outright lack of useful information. I will avoid the codes (alone) in the future and encourage others to do so as well.

The observation on this welcomed rarity is that what I have called the cast of supporting characters has changed every day. Some days the other shorebirds have been primarily Greater Yellowlegs while on others like today (and August
7 when I first saw it) it has been Lesser Yellowlegs. Today there were at least 35 of the latter. Some days there have been dowitchers and other days none. On the 7th it was closely associating with a Red Necked Phalarope which was absent today. Some days many peeps and other days few if any. Migration being on it is not surprising that the variety appears at the Eide Road ponds. But especially since it is migration time, it is interesting to me that these other birds move on and this bird stays. Where do the others go and why does not this guy (or gal) join them instead of returning? Why is it here in the first place? More reasons to enjoy our feathered friends.

--
Blair Bernson
Edmonds

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