Eric-- Sounds like you need a handy list of codes for field notes you can use for this region, without all the confusing codes for other areas--such as the tinamous, etc. Frankly, I don't know of one, but it would be interesting if anyone does. If your field notes are for your own use, who cares?--just develop codes that make intuitive sense to you. For example, GY for greater yellowlegs, and LY for lesser yellowlegs, are unambiguous, easier to interpret, and shorter than GRYE and LEYE. For owls, GHO, SEO, LEO, SWO, ESO are easier to read and understand than their four-letter equivalents. I use HseF instead of HOFI, Card instead of NOCA, Bald instead of BAEA, just because they're easier to comprehend at a glance. The only reason to memorize the often unintuitive, sometimes opaque, and occasionally ambiguous bander's codes is if you have to send a file of coded names to a banders' organization that requires abbreviations standardized according to their system. Let's face it, names are going to change anyway. If the yellow-bellied flycatcher is re-named the yellow-throated flycatcher (a far more descriptive name in my opinion!), the codes will change, and will have to be revised in all the databases anyway. My take is that if you record bird sightings regularly you'll develop a good system that works for you, and you shouldn't be hesitant to use it. If you report your data to someone else, you can always use the full names; if they insist on abbreviations, you can choose whether or not to take the trouble to convert them. Bill Whan Columbus > The Reiners wrote: > On another note, does anyone have a good standardized list (or link > to one) of four-letter bird codes (some apparently call them "alpha > codes"). I have searched a bit on-line for such a list and have > found several, but there are discrepancies between them! > Especially useful would be one focused on birds of Ohio or eastern > North America (so I don't have to wade through tinamous and such). > Any suggestions would be useful, as I do find these codes easier to > use in my field notes. Thanks! > Eric Reiner > Ashville, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]