Hunting Digital Plumes in the US and Beyond: March 2000

Tuesday, March 7, 2000

A Proposal for Abbreviating Bird Names: The Trinomial Shortform

Common names for birds can be lengthy to write; while there are 4-letter alpha codes for the common names (as well as 6-letter codes for their corresponding Latin names), they tend to be somewhat cryptic and unintuitive -- quick -- what species is BRBL, WTHA or RTBE?

As an alternative, the following system is proposed:

The system relies on taking the bird common name and decomposing it into all its constituent single words that can stand alone in English -- this means separating out compound words and ignoring spaces or punctuation.

The abbreviation then is formed by:

1st 3 letters of the Latin family name in title case
1st 3 letters of the first word in the decomposed form of the common name
The initials formed by the 1st letters of each of the remaining words in the common name

In short:
<1st 3>.<1st 3>.<initials of each remaining word>

Examples:
Brown-headed Cowbird decomposes into:
Brown headed cow bird [free standing English words]
And, the trinomial shortform becomes: Ict.bro.hcb

Red-headed Woodpecker decomposes into:
Red headed wood pecker
And, the trinomial shortform becomes: Pic.red.hwp

Brown-headed Nuthatch decomposes into:
Brown headed nut hatch
And, the trinomial shortfrom is Sit.bro.hnh (family Sittidae)

Osprey -- no further decompositions; it becomes:
Pan.osp (family Pandionidae)

More Examples to illustrate how this works:

Par.bla.aww == Black-and-white Warbler (family Parulidae)
Ard.yel.cnh == Yellow-crowned Night Heron (family Aredide)
Ict.red.wbb == Red-winged Blackbird (family Icteridae)
Tyr.sci.tfc == Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (family Tyrranidae)
Odo.nor.bw == Northern Bobwhite (family Odontophoridae)
Cuc.man.c ==Mangrove Cuckoo (family Cuculidae)
Tur.her.t == Hermit Thrush (family Turdidae)
Anh.Anh == Anhinga (family Anhingidae)
Acc.bal.e == Bald Eagle (family Accipitridae)
Tyt.bar.o == Barn Owl (family Tytonidae)
Str.bar.o == Barred Owl (family Strigidae)
Str.bur.o == Burrowing Owl (family Strigidae)
Ana.Gar == Garganey (family Anatidae)
Par.pra.w == Prairie Warbler (family Parulidae)
Par.pro.w == Prothonotary Warbler (family Parulidae)

The advantages are that it combines the scientific family name (which we should all be learning anyway) with a short form of the common name which tends to be more intuitive than the cryptic alpha codes. The other advantage is that the shorthand names are simpler and unambiguous (unlike the 4 letter codes). Decoding the family name also greatly narrows down the range of possibilities for the species common name.

Since the Latin family names are key to the whole scheme, it is instructive to be aware of what all 73 of them are:

Family	1st Three
Family: Accipitridae Eagles, kites and allies	Acc
Family: Aegithalidae Bushtits	Aeg
Family: Alaudidae Larks	Ala
Family: Alcidae Auks, murres and puffins	Alc
Family: Anatidae Ducks, geese, swans	Ana
Family: Anhingidae Darters	Anh
Family: Apodidae Swifts	Apo
Family: Aramidae Limpkins	Ara
Family: Ardeidae Bitterns, herons and egrets	Ard
Family: Bombycillidae Waxwings	Bom
Family: Caprimulgidae Nightjars	Cap
Family: Cardinalidae Cardinals, grosbeaks and allies	Car
Family: Cathartidae New World vultures	Cat
Family: Certhiidae Treecreepers	Cer
Family: Cerylidae Kingfishers	Cer
Family: Charadriidae Lapwings and plovers	Cha
Family: Ciconiidae Storks	Cic
Family: Cinclidae Dippers	Cin
Family: Columbidae Pigeons and doves	Col
Family: Corvidae Jays, crows, magpies and ravens	Cor
Family: Cuculidae Cuckoos, roadrunners and anis	Cuc
Family: Diomedeidae Albatrosses	Dio
Family: Emberizidae American sparrows, towhees and juncos	Emb
Family: Falconidae Caracaras and falcons	Fal
Family: Fregatidae Frigatebirds	Fre
Family: Fringillidae Finches	Fri
Family: Gaviidae Loons	Gav
Family: Gruidae Cranes	Gru
Family: Haematopodidae Oystercatchers	Hae
Family: Hirundinidae Swallows and martins	Hir
Family: Hydrobatidae Storm petrels	Hyd
Family: Icteridae Blackbirds, meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles and New World orioles	Ict
Family: Laridae Gulls, terns and skimmers	Lar
Family: Mimidae Mockingbirds and thrashers	Mim
Family: Motacillidae Wagtails and pipits	Mot
Family: Odontophoridae New World quail	Odo
Family: Pandionidae Osprey	Pan
Family: Paridae Chickadees and titmice	Par
Family: Parulidae New World warbler	Par
Family: Passeridae Old World sparrows	Pas
Family: Pelecanidae Pelicans	Pel
Family: Peucedramidae Olive warbler	Peu
Family: Phaethontidae Tropicbirds	Pha
Family: Phalacrocoracidae Cormorants	Pha
Family: Phasianidae Partridges, grouse, turkeys and Old World quail	Pha
Family: Phoenicopteridae Flamingos	Pho
Family: Picidae Woodpeckers, sapsuckers and flickers	Pic
Family: Podicipedidae Grebes	Pod
Family: Polioptilidae Gnatcatchers	Pol
Family: Procellariidae Shearwaters and petrels	Pro
Family: Psittacidae Lorikeets, parakeets, macaws and parrots	Psi
Family: Ptiliogonatidae Silky flycatchers	Pti
Family: Pycnonotidae Bulbuls	Pyc
Family: Rallidae Rails, gallinules and coots	Ral
Family: Recurvirostridae Stilts and avocets	Rec
Family: Regulidae Kinglets	Reg
Family: Remizidae Verdin	Rem
Family: Scolopacidae Sandpipers and allies	Sco
Family: Sittidae Nuthatches	Sit
Family: Stercorariidae Skuas	Ste
Family: Strigidae True owls	Str
Family: Sturnidae Starlings and mynas	Stu
Family: Sulidae Boobies and gannets	Sul
Family: Sylviidae Old World warblers	Syl
Family: Threskiornithidae Ibises and spoonbills	Thr
Family: Tityridae Tityras and allies	Tit
Family: Trochilidae Hummingbirds	Tro
Family: Troglodytidae Wrens	Tro
Family: Trogonidae Trogons	Tro
Family: Turdidae Thrushes	Tur
Family: Tyrannidae Tyrant flycatchers	Tyr
Family: Tytonidae Barn Owls	Tyt
Family: Vireonidae Vireos	Vir

These are the 73 of the 200-odd bird families found globally that we can expect to find in the US.

In normal usage, once used, in the interest of further brevity, it would be possible to omit the family name; the resulting abbreviation would not begin in title case. Eg.,:

"At the Church Rd venue, 4 Tyr.sci.tfc and 3 Tyr.wes.kb were seen. The sci.tfc were perched on the overhead wires while the wes.kb were flying back and forth between the fence and the shrubs on the other side of the road."

What is Plume Hunting?

Plume hunting was big business in the late 1800's. Unfortunately, the dark side to the beauty of plumes led to the slaughter of millions of birds so women could wear fancy hats (Read about Plume Hunting).

Thankfully, in this age of digitization, we can capture most anything we want -- books, music, video, etc. -- digitally. And, with the advent of digital photography at the turn of the millennium, we can once again hunt for plumes -- but digitally; with none of the accompanying destruction. This blog is dedicated to capturing the beauty of nature reflected through the incredible diversity of our avifauna.

Reproduced below is ecofeminist Celia Thaxter's, "Woman’s Heartlessness" (Boston 1886; reproduced from Google Books) which was published at the time when plumes were worth their weight in gold and many species of birds were fast headed toward extinction:

WOMAN’S HEARTLESSNESS
By Celia Laighton Thaxter

When the Audubon Society was first organized, it seemed a comparatively simple thing to awaken in the minds of all bird-wearing women a sense of what their “decoration” involved. We flattered ourselves that the tender and compassionate heart of woman would at once respond to the appeal for mercy, but after many months of effort we are obliged to acknowledge ourselves mistaken in our estimate of that universal compassion, that tender heart in which we believed. Not among the ignorant and uncultivated so much as the educated and enlightened do we find the indifference and hardness that baffles and perplexes us. Not always, heaven be praised! But too often,--I think I may say in two-thirds of the cases to which we appeal. One lady said to me, “I think there is a great deal of sentiment wasted on the birds. There are so many of them, they will never be missed any more than mosquitoes. I shall put birds on my new bonnet.” This was a fond and devoted mother, a cultivated and accomplished woman. It seemed a desperate case, indeed, but still I strove with it. “Why do you give yourself so much trouble?” she asked. “They will soon go out of fashion, and there will be an end of it.” That may be,” I replied, “but fashion next year may order them back again, and how many women will have human feeling enough to refuse to wear them? It was merely waste of breath, however, and she went her way, a charnel-house of beaks and claws and bones and feathers and glass eyes upon her fatuous head.

Another, mockingly, says, “Why don’t you try to save the little fishes in the sea?” and continues to walk the world with dozens of warblers’ wings making her headgear hideous. Not one in fifty is found willing to remove at once the birds from her head, even if, languidly, she does acquiesce in the assertion that it is a cruel sin against nature to destroy them. “When these are worn out I am willing to promise not to buy any more,” is what we hear, and we are thankful, indeed, for even so much grace; but alas! birds never “wear out.” And as their wearer does not carry a placard stating their history, that they were bought last year, or perhaps given to her, and she does not intend to buy any more, her economy goes on setting the bad example, or it may be her indolence is to blame, one is as fatal as the other. Occasionally, but too rarely, we meet with a fine spirit, the fire of whose generous impulse consumes at once all selfish considerations, who recognizes the importance of her own responsibility, and whose action is swift as her thought to pluck our the murderous sign, and go forth free of its dishonor. And how refreshing is the sight of the birdless bonnet! The face beneath, no matter how plain it may be, seems to possess a gentle charm. She might have had birds, this woman, for they are cheap and plentiful enough, heaven knows! But she has them not, therefore she must wear within things infinitely precious,--namely, good sense, good taste, good feeling. Heaven bless every woman who dares turn her back on Fashion and go about thus beautifully adorned!

In one of the most widely circulated newspapers the fashionable news from Paris begins: “Birds are worn more than ever.” Birds “are worn!” Pitiful phrase! Sentence of deadly significance! “Birds are worn,”—as if that were final, as if all women must follow one another like a flock of sheep over a wall, and forget reason, forget the human heart within, forget everything but the empty pride of being “in the fashion.” Ah me, my fire-flecked oriole, watching your airy cradle from the friendly swinging elm bough, go get yourself an inky coat. Your beauty makes you but a target for the accursed gun that shatters your lovely life, quenches your delicious voice, destroys your love, your bliss, your dutiful cares, your whole beautiful being, that your dead body may disfigure some woman’s head and call all eyes to gaze at her! But no,--that will not save you. Blackbirds are not safe, they “are worn.” Carrion crows “are worn,” unsavory scavengers though they be. No matter on what they may have fed,--they “are worn.” Soar, swift sea-swallow,--I would it could be millions of miles away from the haunts of men; to the uttermost parts of the earth and the ocean carry your grace, your slender loveliness of shape, your matchless delicacy of tint and tone of color, soft, wondrous like gray cloud and silvery snow,--fly! dear and beautiful creature; seek the centre of the storm, the heart of the Arctic cold, the winter blast, they are not so unkind as—woman’s vanity. Do I not see you every day, your mocking semblance writhing as if in agony round female heads,--still and stark, sharp wings and tail pointing in stiff distress to heaven, your dried and ghastly head and beak dragged down to point to the face below, as if saying, “She did it.” The albatross of the Ancient Mariner is not more dreadful. Yesterday I saw three of you on one hat! Three terns at once, a horrible confusion of death and dismay.

Does any woman imagine these withered corpses (cured with arsenic) which she loves to carry about, are beautiful? Not so; the birds lost their beauty with their lives. Today I saw a mat woven of warblers' heads, spiked all over its surface with sharp beaks, set up on a bonnet and borne aloft by its possessor in pride! Twenty murders on one! and the face beneath bland and satisfied, for are not "Birds to be worn more than ever?" Flit, sandpiper, from the sea's margin to some loneliness remote and safe from the noble race of man! No longer in the soft May twilight call from cove to cove along the shore in notes that seem to breathe the very spirit of tender joy, of happy love, of sweet content; tones that mingle so divinely with the warm waves' murmur, with the south wind's balm, and sound in music through the dusk, long after the last crimson flash of sunset has faded from the sky year after year you come back to make your nest in the place you know and love, but you shall not live your humble, blissful, dutiful life, you shall not guard your treasured home, nor rejoice when your little ones break the silence with their first cry to you for food. You shall not shelter and protect and care for them with the same divine instinct you share with human mothers. No, some woman wants your corpse to carry on her head. You shall die that vanity, that "Fashion" may live.

I fear we no longer deserve these golden gifts of God. I would the birds could all emigrate to some friendlier planet peopled by a nobler race than ours, where they might live their sweet lives unmolested, and be treated with the respect, the consideration, and the grateful love which are their due. For we have almost forfeited our right to the blessing of their presence.

But still we venture to hope for a better future, still the Audubon and other societies work with heart and soul, to protect and save them, and we trust yet to see the day when women, one and all, will look upon the wearing of birds in its proper light,--namely, as a sign of heartlessness and a mark of ignominy and reproach.

Privacy Policy

Tuesday, March 7, 2000

A Proposal for Abbreviating Bird Names: The Trinomial Shortform

Birding Arizona

Birding Australia

Birding the Caribbean

Birding India

Birding Florida

Birding California

Birding the Pacific Northwest

Birding Texas

Birding New Mexico

Birding the Midwest