LIST OF ACRONYMS

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Hi Julian,

 

Wow, I hope that you did not do all that work just for us. There actually is an established list of 4 letter acronyms for all of the Australian bird species. That is developed according to various rules. A similar system is used in USA. For the Aus bird list,  I believe that only needed to be bent for Buff-rumped and Brown Thornbill, which would have come out the same. The GBS Birds database already includes them all (which is most local species), although it isn't used in any practical sense. It uses the "Atlas" numbers. The reason is that in the mid 1980s McComas Taylor processed the GBS bird data in the (difficult to use) system he developed, using those codes (and then he used Pizzey numbers and then than I've forgotten what) I adapted the codes (I think it was David McDonald who brought the full set to my notice), until we went just with the numbers, but the 4 letter codes are still in there. I can easily output the list for you (or anyone else).

 

I favour the use of acronyms whilst they are easy, as in refer to things that we would often talk or write about. I don't favour to have an acronym for everything. I would not favour for example: AF =  Azure Kingfisher. For uncommon species or those not already in the conversation, people would end up expending more energy in confusion and explaining than saved at the start. Also there is no point having duplicated acronyms (one that refers to more than one species). There are several in your list. 

 

Philip