Bruce Bowman's Six-Letter Code System
bbowman@umich.edu
Bruce Bowman's Website
The four-letter Bird Banding Lab (BBL - often
called Alpha Codes) are familiar to many
birders. However, this code can be very difficult
to learn as there are many exceptions to
the rule. Northern Michigan Birding has adopted
Bruce Bowman's code system for use in the
sightings database. His code system is very
simple and carries very few exceptions to
the rules. Read the rules of his code system
below. We've also created a database for
you to easily familiarize yourself with Bruce
Bowman's system.
Bruce's system is applied to species included
in the American Birding Association (ABA)
CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE CONTINENTAL
U.S. AND CANADA (5TH ED., 1996). Standard
abbreviations are based on a six-letter abbreviation
scheme. Specifically, the rules given below
must be followed in constructing a species
abbreviation.
"Words" in a species name are those
parts of the name separated by spaces or
hyphens. Ex.: "Bay-breasted Warbler"
has three words.
STANDARD ABBREVIATIONS
* ONE-WORD NAMES Use the first six letters,
or use the entire name if it is less than
six letters in length. Ex.: Canvasback =
CANVAS, Sora = SORA
* TWO-WORD NAMES Use the first three letters
of each word. Ex.: Wilson's Plover = WILPLO,
Fish Crow = FISCRO
* THREE-WORD NAMES Use the first two letters
of each word. Ex.: Great Gray Owl = GRGROW,
Broad-tailed Hummingbird = BRTAHU
* FOUR-WORD NAMES Use the first letter of
each of the first two words and the first
two letters of each of the last two words.
Ex. Black-and-white Warbler = BAWHWA, Black-crowned
Night-Heron = BCNIHE
Because several instances of duplicate abbreviations
result when the above rules are applied to
the 917 species names in the American Birding
Association Checklist, special-case abbreviations
are necessary for the species listed below:
SPECIAL CASE ABBREVIATIONS
Barn Owl= BARNOW
Barred Owl= BARROW |
Common Redpoll= COREDP
Common Redshank= COREDS |
Blackburnian Warbler= BLBUWA
Blackpoll Warbler= BLPOWA |
Green-breasted Mango= GNBRMA
Gray-breasted Martin= GYBRMA |
Blue Grouse= BLGROU
Blue Grosbeak= BLGROS |
Leach's Storm-Petrel= LEACSP
Least Storm-Petrel= LEASSP |
Black-throated Gray Warbler= BTGYWA
Black-throated Green Warbler= BTGNWA |
Spotted Sandpiper= SPOTSA
Spoonbill Sandpiper= SPOOSA |
Bruce Bowman's Bird Species Code System Database
Bird Banding Lab (BBL or Alpha) Codes
BBL or Alpha codes are 4 letter abbreviations
of bird species common names. They are used
by bird banders as shorthand for the common
names of bird species. They are also used
by others as a quick way to record their
sightings in the field. You may use this
database to familiarize yourself with this
code system and to lookup an Alpha Code reference.
However, we suggest you use Bruce Bowman's
system described above to make your field
notations.
Bird Banding Lab Species Code (Alpha Code)
Database
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