English and Scientific Alpha Codes for North American Birds through
the 50th AOU Supplement (2009).
Updated 14 January 2010
Alphabetic (“alpha”) codes, abbreviations of English
or scientific bird names, have long been employed by ornithologists.
They allow quicker data entry than filling out the full English or
scientific name of a species and they can also serve to cross-check
other recorded names or numeric data. The U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory
(BBL) has long used alpha codes in banding data, and these codes have
become an integral part of large ornithological programs across Canada
and the United States; however, inconsistencies occur in the rules
governing the alpha codes of the BBL, and their list does not include
most species found exclusively in Mexico, Central America, and the
Caribbean.
Therefore, a new set of Four-letter (for English common names) and
six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed
by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) in
a rigorous manner to reflect American Ornithologists' Union (AOU)
taxonomy and nomenclature (AOU 1998) as modified by Supplements 42
(Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). Pyle and DeSante
(2005, 2006, 2009; North American Bird Bander 30:70-72, 31:193-195,
34:64-67) updated the list to reflect changes reported by the AOU
in Supplements 44-49 (Auk 120:923-931, 2003; 121:985-995, 2004; 122:1026-1031,
2005; 124:1109-1115, 2007; and 125:758-768, 2008). To keep this list
as current as possible, we now plan to update it as soon as possible
after the AOU releases it's annual supplement. The lists here, therefore,
are current through the 50th AOU supplement (Auk 126:705-714, 2009;
North American Bird Bander 34:109-110, 2009).
We present two sets of alpha codes for use by North and Central
American and Caribbean ornithologists. The first set contains four-letter
codes, based on English names, broadly following the rules and strategies
adopted by the BBL. This set differs from that of the BBL in two ways
(see Pyle and DeSante 2003 for details). First, all 2055 species recorded
from the AOU area (through 2009 according to their 50th supplement)
are included, as well as 97 non-species taxa (many of which were recognized
by the BBL) for which standardized English names are provided. Second,
standardized, species-categorization definitions and conflict-resolution
formulae have been derived and strictly adhered to. The second set
of codes follows the same basic principles except that it contains
six-letter codes based on the scientific names (genus, species, and
subspecies) of the species or taxa. We hope that this second set will
be useful for ornithologists, particularly those in Latin American
countries, who prefer using scientific rather than English names.
These two sets of codes will continue to be updated every two years,
following taxonomic and name changes adopted by the AOU in future
annual supplements.
View or download the English and Scientific Alpha Codes for North
American Birds (160K) by clicking on one of the links below. There
are four formats available: three Adobe Acrobat PDF documents (sorted
in 2009 AOU phylogenetic order, alphabetical order by common name,
and alphabetical order by scientific name), and a database file that
can be opened by this or other commonly used programs (e.g., Excel,
Access, Paradox) to allow searches. In each of the lists non-species
taxa are marked with a "+" and four-letter and six letter
codes that do not represent first-order letter combinations (see Pyle
and DeSante 2003) due to conflicts with other species having the same
codes, are marked with an asterisk (*).
Contact Peter Pyle (ppyle@birdpop.org) if you would like copies of
older lists.
“+” before English name indicates a non-species
taxon
* Four-letter and six-letter codes that, because of conflicts, are
not "1st-order" codes are marked with an asterisk. See Pyle
and DeSante, North American Bird Bander 28:64-79 (2003) for more information.