Birding Dictionary …………

By | May 12, 2019

Released by the Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail …

Greg the Great Egret on the hunt. Photo by Larry Korhnak

Have you ever heard someone refer to a Mourning Dove as a “modo”?

Birders and scientists alike will sometimes use standardized abbreviations called alpha codes as shorthand for a bird’s full name, which can be very useful when jotting down notes in the field.


For birds with a single word in their name, the code is just the first four letters of the name. For example, “Mallard” would be abbreviated as MALL. If there are two words in the name, the first two letters of each name are used. A Common Merganser would be shortened to COME. Beyond that, the rules get a little bit more complicated, but with practice, alpha codes can be a great tool for note taking.


Most of these codes work better when written down than spoken aloud – the Black-crowned Night-heron’s BCNH doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue – but some of them are very fun to say! Here are a few of our favorites.


EAGR – I am eager indeed to travel west and see an Eared Grebe someday.


PROW – This one is especially fun if a curious Prothonotary Warbler happens to land on the front of your boat.


BUHU – I might weep with joy if I get to see the tiny Bumblebee Hummingbird someday!


KILL – I know they have red-rimmed eyes, but I don’t think that Killdeer are scary enough to live up to this one…


GREG – It’s always nice to be on a first name basis with a Great Egret.


Check out the full list of alpha codes at the Institute for Bird Populations site if you want to give this shortcut a try!