Q: When is a wren not a wren?
A: When it's a WREN.
This is a wren (Bewick's Wren, to be specific) but it is not a WREN.
This, on the other hand, is a WREN, but it is not a wren.
Wrentit, by Mike Armer (used with permission)
What? (but not WHAT, because I don't think that's valid.)
Okay, those of you who know this stuff know exactly what's going on. Those of you who don't are about to discover Band Codes. Oh joyous geekdom!
Let's start with the basics...
So, a band code is a four letter abbreviation to record a bird species for data entry or other purposes. (I've seen a six-letter code, but it is for wimps.) In its simplest form, you get a band code by taking the first two letters from each part of a bird's name, or the first four letters of a bird with a one-word name. So a Bewick's Wren is BEWR, but WREN is a Wrentit. This works easily for many species, but...
ACWO makes it extra easy to remember, by using its band code as a call
...there are those three-word names. Red Tailed Hawk. Red Shouldered Hawk. Western Scrub Jay. Northern Pygmy Owl. American White Pelican. So you have to learn where the hyphens (if any) fall. Redtails are Red-tailed Hawks, so they're RTHA, and Red-shoulders are RSHA by the same logic. But the WEestern Scrub-Jays and NOrthern Pygmy-Owls are hyphenated on the other end of their names, so they're WESJs and NOPOs (vs. those FLSJs and FEPOs). To tell the truth, I still end up looking up those pelicans about half the time - are they AMerican White Pelicans, or are they American White PElicans? (AWPE, for the record.)
WESJ looking for BOSU (black-oil sunflower)
One of the things about this is that you need to remember those modifiers to names that you normally don't bother with. When you're out birding, you see mockingbirds, robins, kestrels, shrikes, ravens, murres, kingbirds, terns, shovelers or meadowlarks. You don't really think of them as northern, American, common, eastern or western. But to enter the band code you have to think a bit more about your bird. (and that's a good thing.)
NOMO confusion, right?
After a while, you can follow the logic of the names, but you still run into problems. There are the confusion species, where the same band code could apply to more than one species. Within the ABA area, this is maybe 10-15% of species. An easy example of this is barn swallow vs. bank swallow. (I record my sightings on birding trips in band codes, and it's pretty common to have both species on the same trip.) When the first-two-letters rule doesn't work, you normally go to first three letters of the "main" name, so it becomes BARS and BANS.
It's sometimes easier to remember the confusing pairs when they're related, like the swallows or towhees (canyon vs. California), owls (barn vs. barred), buntings (lark vs. lazuli) or geese (cackling vs. Canada). It gets harder to remember when they're unrelated - CEdar WAxwings vs. CErulean WArblers, or TRee SWallows vs. TRumpeter SWans - but, in time, you remember CEDW vs. CERW and TRES vs. TRUS.
Yes We CANG!
With four-word names, you just take the first letter of each word, so NRWS = Northern Rough-winged Swallow (of course, you have to remember the "Northern" bit). Here's a fun combo, though: Black-throated Grey Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler. I think I'll let you cogitate and put the answer in comments.
A few birds make it easy, by just having four-letter names. A less common one that shows up in the states (which I have missed on two separate, multiple-try appearances here) is the Smew, band code SMEW. Can you guess two others (more regular) which have North American band codes (answer in comments). Bonus for the Hawaiian species that has a four-letter code. I'll add that there is one Hawaiian species that has a two-letter code: the O'u.
Hey, you look familiar... isn't your name CORA?
I like keeping my trip lists in band codes just for space saving purposes - it's easy to get a full days worth of birds onto a single page, and it's also easier (for me anyway) to scan for duplicates. Some people don't like using them because it seems so dry and impersonal (if you can use "impersonal" in this context). Au contraire! Alas, my four-letter last name does not correspond with a band code. But if you are a Greg, you can have a kindred spirit with GREGs. Most people on this site will think of Maureen Dowd when they hear MoDo, but not the birders.
BEKI is just always rattling on about something...
And band codes lend themselves to other words and odd associations. Whenever I add bluebirds to a day's list, a little jingle runs through my head: WEBLs wobble but they don't fall down. Or, As impressive as they may be, GOSH is a NOGO. And I know several folks, male and female, who are entranced by one birds beauty and might well consider themselves LAZBians.
These guys can be pretty PISI toward the other birds at the feeder.
Now you can speak bird geek with the best of 'em.
