Hardcore bird nerds find saying "Great Horned Owl" too much of a mouthful. Instead, they might say, "I heard a GHOW last night!" These four-letter codes were coined by bird banders to quickly note bird species and serve as handy abbreviations.
The codes follow certain rules based on the bird's common name. If the bird's name is just one word, the first four letters are taken for the bird's code.
Sora becomes SORA.
Bufflehead becomes BUFF.
If the bird's name contains two words, the code takes the first two letters from the first name and the first two from the last name.
American Kestrel becomes AMKE.
Snowy Owl becomes SNOW.
If the name has three words, the first letter from the first and second words are used, plus the first two letters of the last name.
Red-tailed Hawk becomes RTHA.
Great Horned Owl becomes GHOW.
What happens if we follow these rules and two species come out with the same code? Neither of them gets that code, technically, and they each get a special abbreviation. For example, Barred Owl and Barn Owl would both become BAOW, so they are assigned unique codes:
Barred Owl becomes BDOW.
Barn Owl becomes BNOW.
Once you have the hang of figuring out bird codes, you can make a code for your own name! Mine would be HASE. What is your four-letter code?
For more information on bird codes and a list of species, check out this Carolina Bird Club article.
Comments