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My Dad used to say that you could tell how long someone had been birding by what you called something. Just run through the old (really old) such as first edition Peterson and earlier and see what things were called. Change always makes life "fun".
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<span class="signature-truncate"><span class="signature-truncate">Hal Michael<br><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Board of Directors, </span><a style="font-size: 12pt;" href="http://ecowb.org/">Ecologists Without Borders</a></span></span>
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<span class="signature-truncate">Olympia WA<br>360-459-4005<br>360-791-7702 (C)<br>ucd880@comcast.net</span>
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On 02/13/2026 6:18 PM PST Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote:
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</div> Just to clarify a little more, the Eurasian Goshawk is now <em class="">Astur gentilis</em>, and our Cooper’s Hawk is <em class="">Astur cooperii</em>. There are other species of <em class="">Astur</em> and <em class="">Accipiter</em> scattered around the world, as genetic work probed into the classification and found that there were two groups of accipiters that warranted being in two different genera.
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And I’m all for using the four-letter codes, as long as people are introduced to them, as others have said, so as not to be confusing. Writing Short-eared Owl (SEOW), then going on to use the acronym in further writing, seems a fine way to go.
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I have to add that I’m used to common and scientific names changing, but when four-letter codes change, I come up with a few four-letter words myself! Think of years of field notes taken using the four-letter codes.
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Dennis Paulson
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Seattle
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dennispaulson at comcast dot net
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On Feb 13, 2026, at 5:08 PM, qblater via Tweeters <<a class="" href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:
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4 letter codes are also a way to keep current on your classification
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For example
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AMGO is no more
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Now
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 11.04px;"> </span>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 11.04px;">American Goldfinch AGOL* Spinus tristis SPITRI</span>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 11.04px;">American Goshawk AGOS* Astur atricapillus ASTATR</span>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 11.04px;">Why?</span>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 11.04px;"><span class="ILfuVd" style="font-family: 'Google Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; color: #545454; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; caret-color: #545454; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 124%;"><span class="pOOWX hgKElc" style="padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px;"> July of this year, the American Ornithological Society decided to go along with the overwhelming evidence that <span class="" style="border-radius: 4px; padding: 0px 2px; color: #040c28; animation: 0.75s cubic-bezier(0.05, 0.7, 0.1, 1) 0.25s forwards highlight; background-size: 200% 100%;">most goshawks in North America are not closely related to most goshawks in Europe and Asia</span>, voting to split the Northern Goshawk into the American Goshawk and the Eurasian Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis).</span></span><span class="kX21rb ZYHQ7e" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 17.360001px; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Google Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; padding-right: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 124%;">N</span></span>
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Clarice Clark
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On Feb 13, 2026, at 2:43 PM, Steve Loitz via Tweeters <<a class="" href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:
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Are you referring to 4-letter Alpha Codes? If so, IME, Alpha Codes can be part of the fun for a new birder, and for some it may actually enhance learning. We have a couple new birders in our local chapter who enjoy calling out "AMKE," "TUVU," "AMGO," etc. on our field trips. I refer them to this: <a class="" href="https://www.birdpop.org/docs/misc/Alpha_codes_eng.pdf">https://www.birdpop.org/docs/misc/Alpha_codes_eng.pdf</a>
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Steve Loitz
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Ellensburg
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On Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 2:12 PM Ted Ryan via Tweeters <<a class="" href="mailto:tweeters@u.washington.edu">tweeters@u.washington.edu</a>> wrote:
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I think there is a balance here to consider. On the one hand, we don't want to make it overly burdensome for a new birder to participate. On the other hand, I don't think new folks to a hobby should expect no barriers with regards to nomenclature. All hobbies have acronyms and words that we have to learn. That's part of the hobby, that's part of the experience and it's inescapable. I think the OP will find that learning the acronyms will aid in your enjoyment.
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Besides, If we remove such things than all birds are just LBJ's and where does that get us?
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Ted Ryan
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South Kitsap, WA
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As do basically all newer birders. As someone who?s worked with newer
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birders a lot over the years (I ran the Santa Clara County version of
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tweeters for over a decade, among other things) I?ve talked to and worked a
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lot with our less senior partners, and when two senior birders start
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chattering in this shorthand, it tends to make them feel excluded and
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intimidated. It?s not a welcoming thing to birders trying to grow into
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their adult feathers.
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Because of that, I stopped using the acronyms in casual communications
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where the new birders will be looking in long ago (or I?m careful to
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always put the term in context in the note) and I generally discouraged
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random use of them in open forums like this. And I think, if you want new
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birders to feel part of our community and grow up to be more senior birders
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along with us, that we do so as well.
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Chuq
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</div> <span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span>
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Steve Loitz
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Ellensburg, WA
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<a class="" href="mailto:steveloitz@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">steveloitz@gmail.com</a>
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