[TN-Bird] alpha codes/bird banding
- From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 14:06:45 -0700 (PDT)
Hi folks,
If you're not interested in bird banding, please hit delete now...
Still with me? good.
Wallace has good points about not using jargon or abbreviations too
much, and I try (and usually succeed?) to type the whole name out the
first time, at least.
But if you're interested in banding codes, here is a bit of
information.
There are 3 organizations involved in banding. The American
Ornithologists Union (AOU)determines bird names, and also
abbreviations. They are the folks who make the "lumping and
splitting" decisions, for instance. The Bird Banding Laboratory
(BBL) collects all banding information and bestows permits. The
Institute for Bird Populations (IBP)created and manages the protocol
and information associated with the banding projects called
"Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship" or MAPS, for short.
While most bird banding is done during migration, MAPS is done during
the breeding season. IBP also does a lot of other important
research, and you might be interested in checking out their web page
to learn more: http://www.birdpop.org .
The American Ornithologists' Union determines the codes, and has 2
different sets: 4-letter and 6-letter. The 6-letter, of course,
have far fewer conflicts and are a lot more "user friendly" but they
have not caught on as well as one might expect because of the fact
that banding data must, to be useful, be easy to compare
year-after-year and decade-after-decade. Add to that the fact that
the BBL (located in Laurel, Maryland, about half way between Baltmore
and Washington DC, near Patuxent NWR) is extremely understaffed and
relies almost exclusively on volunteers to enter data - and thus are
sometimes literally years behind. So change necessarily comes
slowly.
The IBP, located in Point Reyes Station, California, is more able to
keep up with their information - partly because they have far fewer
years' worth, and partly because they collect far less information
each year. So they are able to change faster. When they process
their data, which MAPS station managers send directly to them, they
then "translate" the information they send to BBL.
A current list of AOU 4- and 6-letter abbreviations is available at
http://www.birdpop.org/AlphaCodes.htm
=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward Abbey
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