Kansas Birds with Atypical Bird Banding Lab Alpha Codes¹

(In Alphabetical Order by Common Name)

American Flamingo (AMFL)²

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)³

Broad-tailed Hummingbird (BTLH)

Cackling Goose (CACG)³

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)⁴

Great Kiskadee (GKIS)

Greater Prairie-Chicken (GPCH)⁴

Harlequin Duck (HARD)

Harris’s Hawk (HRSH)

Herring Gull (HERG)

Lark Bunting (LARB)

Lazuli Bunting (LAZB)

Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LPCH)⁴

MacGillivray’s Warbler (MGWA)⁵

Mountain Plover (MOUP)

Northern Shoveler (NSHO)

Northern Shrike (NSHR)

Prairie Warbler (PRAW)

Prothonotary Warbler (PROW)

Ring-necked Pheasant (RPHE)

Rock Pigeon (ROPI)⁶

Sage Sparrow (SAGS)

Savannah Sparrow (SAVS)

Snow Goose (SNGO)⁷

Tree Swallow (TRES)

Trumpeter Swan (TRUS)

Tufted Titmouse (TUTI)⁸

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.

²As of this writing, the common name for American Flamingo has not been updated from “Greater Flamingo” in the BBL Bird Banding Manual, and so the official alpha code for the species remains “GREF” (to avoid collision with the code for Gray Flycatcher, GRFL).  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.

³Broad-billed Hummingbird and Cackling Goose do not appear in the most recent printing of the Kansas Ornithological Society’s Checklist of the Birds of Kansas (9^th edition, 1998), but the Kansas Bird Records Committee accepted records of both in 2004.

⁴The 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.

⁵The prefix “Mac” or “Mc” is apparently treated as a separate word in formulating alpha codes.  Coincidentally, this avoids a collision with Magnolia Warbler (MAWA).

⁶As 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.

⁷Snow 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.

⁸Tufted 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.