eBird uses a 4 letter code which is worldwide unlike the AOU. For an easy way to abbreviate all birds worldwide, how about we add this lexicon to iNat?
The rules: (from the California Bird Club https://www.carolinabirdclub.org/bandcodes.html)
Here is a summary of the basic rules:
If the name is one word, the code is the first four letters.
DICK Dickcissel
SORA Sora
If the name is two unhyphenated words, the code is the first two letters of each word.
MODO Mourning Dove
AMRO American Robin
If the name is three words, the code is the first letter of each of the first two words, and the first two letters of the third word. A name of three hyphenated words is treated the same way.
GCFL Great Crested Flycatcher
AWPE American White Pelican
CWWI Chuck-will’s-widow
If the name is a word and a pair of hyphenated words, the code is the first two letters of the unhyphenated word and the first letter of each of the hyphenated words.
Hyphenated word first (coded essentially the same as a three-word name):
BTGR Boat-tailed Grackle
RTHU Ruby-throated Hummingbird
RTHA Red-tailed Hawk
Hyphenated word last:
EASO Eastern Screech-Owl
EAWP Eastern Wood-Pewee
There are a very few bird names where the first word contains two capital letters. Such words are treated like a hyphenated word:
LCSP LeConte’s Sparrow
MGWA MacGillivray’s Warbler
If the name has four parts, either separate words or hyphenated parts, the code is the first letter of each part
BCNH Black-crowned Night-Heron
NRWS Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Advantages:
More species, faster, which allows convenience to a far wider audience (I am quite annoyed that an American could type AMRO to get American Robin but I have no ability to type OMRO and instead have to type Oriental Magpie Robin which is long, or Copsychus saularis which is easy to typo)
Easier to figure out the name without memorizing due to constant rules
Makes iNat easier to use for eBird users
