Kansas Birds with Atypical Bird Banding Lab Alpha Codes¹

(In Alphabetical Order by Common Name)

Bachman’s Sparrow (BACS)

Baird’s Sparrow (BAIS)

Bank Swallow (BANS)

Barn Owl (BNOW)

Barn Swallow (BARS)

Barred Owl (BDOW)

Blackburnian Warbler (BLBW)

Blackpoll Warbler (BLPW)

Black-throated Gray Warbler (BTYW)

Black-throated Green Warbler (BTNW)

Broad-billed Hummingbird (BBLH)²

Broad-tailed Hummingbird (BTLH)

Cackling Goose (CACG)²

Canyon Towhee (CANT)

Canyon Wren (CANW)

Carolina Wren (CARW)

Cedar Waxwing (CEDW)

Cerulean Warbler (CERW)

Common Poorwill (COPW)

Connecticut Warbler (CONW)

Eurasian Collared-Dove (ECDO)³

Great Kiskadee (GKIS)

Greater Flamingo (GREF)

Greater Prairie-Chicken (GPCH)³

Harlequin Duck (HARD)

Harris’s Hawk (HRSH)

Herring Gull (HERG)

Lark Bunting (LARB)

Lazuli Bunting (LAZB)

Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LPCH)³

MacGillivray’s Warbler (MGWA)⁴

Mountain Plover (MOUP)

Northern Shoveler (NSHO)

Northern Shrike (NSHR)

Prairie Warbler (PRAW)

Prothonotary Warbler (PROW)

Ring-necked Pheasant (RPHE)

Rock Pigeon (ROPI)⁵

Sage Sparrow (SAGS)

Savannah Sparrow (SAVS)

Snow Goose (SNGO)⁶

Tree Swallow (TRES)

Trumpeter Swan (TRUS)

Tufted Titmouse (TUTI) ⁷

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)

¹Except as noted below, these are resolutions for “collisions” between codes for different species, hybrids, or subspecies, and are from the BBL’s online bird banding manual:
Species Numbers, Alpha Codes and Recommended Band Sizes,
Update to Species Numbers and Alpha Codes, or
Species Alpha Codes for Gallinaceous and Other Birds.

²Broad-billed Hummingbird and Cackling Goose are not yet on the Kansas Ornithological Society’s Checklist of the Birds of Kansas, but records of both are supported by physical evidence (photos and/or specimens) and will almost certainly be added to the next edition of the list.

³The codes for Eurasian Collared-Dove and Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens were apparently formulated before the group names were hyphenated.  According to the BBL (pers. comm.), these codes should eventually be updated to comply with the standard rules of construction, becoming EUCD, GRPC, and LEPC, respectively.

⁴The prefix “Mac” or “Mc” is apparently treated as a separate word in formulating alpha codes.  Coincidentally, this avoids a collision with Magnolia Warbler (MAWA).

⁵As of this writing, the common name for Rock Pigeon has not been updated from “Rock Dove” in the BBL Bird Banding Manual, and so the official alpha code for the species remains “RODO.”  The code listed here would be the standard formulation for the new name and does not collide with any other North American species’ BBL code.

⁶Snow Goose is separated into multiple forms by the BBL:  “Blue Greater Snow Goose,” BGSG; “Lesser Snow Goose (Blue phase),” BLGO; “Greater Snow Goose,” GSGO; “Lesser Snow Goose (White phase),” LSGO; and “Lesser Snow Goose (Intermed. phase),” SBGI.  The code listed here would be the standard formulation for the current species name and does not collide with any other North American species’ BBL code.

⁷Tufted Titmouse appears in the BBL Bird Banding Manual only as “Eastern Tufted Titmouse” (ETTI), although this name is not currently used by the American Ornithologists’ Union or American Birding Association.  The code listed here would be the standard formulation for the current species name and does not collide with any other North American species’ BBL code.

Compiled and maintained by David Seibel (dseibel@jccc.edu)
Last updated:  7 September 2007