[va-richmond-general] "Ode to a Code...."
- From: Larry R Lynch <birder6@xxxxxxxx>
- To: VA-Richmond-General@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 09:36:11 -0400
Those of you who are familiar with the banding codes
might appreciate the following... "Ode to a Code".
Larry Lynch birder6@xxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------
<<Posted with permission from the author.>>
ODE TO A CODE
-OR-
LOOK WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO MY SONG(BIRDS)
By: Eric V. Johnson
The computer, it seems, is an answer to dreams;
it helps us in all that we try.
But, Oh! Woe is me! How cruel it can be
when it comes to my friends that can fly.
For convenience, they say, we must now put away
all the names we so carefully learned,
and substitute newer, with letters far fewer;
just four are what each bird has earned.
The rules are quite rigorous, making a vigorous
effort to make all birds fit
in a scheme that denies to each one that flies
a nomen that?s worthy of it.
Alpha codes, they are termed, and from what I have learned,
they are most unpronounceable things
that, when spoken as words, make noises absurd
of the names of our creatures with wings.
If today you insist on preparing a list
of the birds you have seen on a trip,
why, it?s RCKIs and COGOs and GCKIs and NOBOs,
and was that duck really a WHIP?
In this evil scheme, there?s a bird called a WEME
and an egret who?s known as a GREG;
and if redpolls had known of the name they now own,
they would never have hatched from the egg!
There is trouble, to boot, between condor and coot,
because CACO would fit both just fine.
So the latter?s a CARC, you?ll find him in a park,
and most CALCs are in zoos at this time.
To make matters worse (and taxonomists curse)
there are some relations implied;
but a dovekie?s no DOVE, and to even think of
a wrentit as WREN makes me cry!
Now, limpkins don?t LIMP, and one sounds like a wimp
when its name is transmuted to LISP;
and there?s TUDUs and TUPUs and CAGUs and TUVUs,
and what in the world is a WISP?
There?s a BUFF and a NOPO, an AMRO, a BOBO,
a MERL and a MELT and a PROW;
a GRAT and a KEWA, a COTE and a HEWA,
a MODO, a PISI, a SPOW.
And so now every bird is a four-letter word
and I doubt that I?ll ever forgive
the computer technician who made that decision;
no,.not for as long as I live.
I?ll admit, there?re a few, and one is the OU,
that survive this most nightmarish horror.
Their names are so short, they defeat this dumb sport:
RUFF, IIWI, OMAO, and SORA!
So you keep your new names, I refuse to play games
with the birdies that sit on my fence.
You keep your FLOWs and your HUGOs and SNOWs
and I?ll stick with names that make sense!
A KEY TO THE CODES IN THE ODE:
RCKI=Ruby-crowned Kinglet
COGO=Common Goldeneye
GCKI= Golden-crowned Kinglet
NOBO= Northern Bobwhite
WHIP=White-cheeked Pintail
WEME=Western Meadowlark
GREG= Great Egret
HORE=Hoary Redpoll
CARC=Caribbean Coot
CALC=California Condor
LISP=Lincoln?s Sparrow
TUDU=Tufted Duck
TUPU=Tufted Puffin
CAGU=California Gull
TUVU=Turkey Vulture
WISP=Wilson?s Storm-Petrel
BUFF=Bufflehead
NOPO= Northern Pygmy-Owl
AMRO=American Robin
BOBO=Bobolink
MERL= Merlin
MELT=Melodious L aughing-thrush
PROW=Prothonotary Warbler
GRAT= Gray-backed Tern
KEWA=Kentucky Warbler
COTE=Commen Tern
HEWA=Hermit Warbler
MODO=Mourning Dove
PISI=Pine Siskin
SPOW=Spotted Owl
FLOW=Flammulated Owl
HUGO=Hudsonian Godwit
SNOW=Snowy Owl
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