Perhaps tweeters should follow the advice of the bird banding lab!
"The alpha codes provided here are required for reporting bandings to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Bandit
(preferred) or Band manager. They are not required or recommended for any other purpose. "



From: Tom Mansfield <birds at t-mansfield.com>
To: Blair Bernson <blair at washingtonadvisorygroup.com>,
"tweeters at u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date sent: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 22:44:39 -0400
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Use of Banding Code Abbreviations and Some
Observations on the Stilt Sandpiper (STSA) at Eide Road
Copies to:
> 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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Clarice Clark