by Laurie Pocher

Sometimes it seems like birders have their own language (case in point: even the word ‘birder’ is short for birdwatcher). Back in the day – before online apps like eBird – birders would carry notebooks and manually keep track of what they saw, using abbreviations to save time. As they shared information with each other, it became apparent that there was a need for consistency in how species were abbreviated, leading the American Birding Association to formalize a 4-character system in the 1980s-90s.

If a bird name is two words, the code typically uses the first two letters from each word (AMRO for American Robin).
If it’s a single word, the code uses the first four letters (MALL for Mallard).
If the bird name is three words, the code uses the first letter of the first two words plus the first two letters of the third word (GBHE for Great Blue Heron).
There are plenty of additional backup rules to handle tricky cases and ensure every species gets its own unique identifier.

Today’s trip report will use these ABA codes and a few other abbreviations – how many can you figure out without referring to the key at the bottom? Let’s find out…

Our shorbing visit to ScarMar started out slowly, on a seasonably warm and sunny late summer morning. We timed our visit to coincide with the incoming tide, as birds typically become more active as the marsh and estuary water levels rise. Unfortunately, the recent drought kept water levels low overall, and many birds stayed a fair distance from the trail. A few songbirds – AMGO, NOCA, and BLJA – were flitting about the tree tops, and a group of six CEWA flew overhead as we arrived.

Just a few steps onto the Eastern trail, we saw a couple of sandpipers working the bank of the Nonesuch River. We debated whether they were SPSA or SOSA, and eventually concluded that the non-breeding plumage was throwing us off – they were unspotted SPSA. A little further up, a much smaller LESA was also working the banks.

In the flats on the other side of the trail, we noticed a few small sandpipers. It was tough to see with the glare of the sun, but we eventually identified a handful of SESA and SEPL. The ‘SE’ is for semipalmated, which refers to some webbing between their toes, which is not a very helpful field mark on a tiny bird foraging in the mud 50+ yards away! Luckily, their plumage, habitat and behavior gave us enough clues to identify them. As we were counting, a bigger flock of about 30 more SESA and SEPL flew in and landed nearby.

We heard the unmistakable chattering call of a BEKI, who flew upriver and landed on the riverbank. He – the lack of rust-colored feathers on the breast identified him as male – relocated to the other side of the trail, apparently taking a break from fishing. We got some good looks at him from the wooden footbridge that spans the river, where a GBHE was also on a break. Way off across the marsh, we saw a RTHA perched in a tree.

On the other side of the trail, we could see several GREG foraging in the marsh. A NOHA was taking advantage of the incoming tide pushing small rodents to move, and his flight stirred up a large and vocal murder of AMCR. Another BOP flew over our heads, backlit by the sun, and we debated whether it was a BWHA or the RTHA we’d seen earlier. Looking at the photos later, the lack of dark bars (called ‘patagium’) on the leading edge of the underwing led us to conclude it was a BWHA.

As we continued along the trail, we could see little white heads popping in and out of view but couldn’t tell from that distance if they were GREG (with their big chunky yellow bills) or SNEG (with their more delicate black bills). We eventually saw both species and were treated to flyovers where we could also see the bright yellow feet attached to the SNEG’s black legs.

A few LBJ were flitting about, and most of them were SOSP. One was showing some yellow on its face – it was tough to see with bins, but Marion got the scope on it and we identified it as a SALS. A few of us ticked a lifer with this sighting! Just as we were celebrating that sighting, a feisty little RTHU chased a TRES right over our heads. A short time later, a large mixed flock of TRES and BARS treated us to an aerial display as they hunted insects over the marsh.

A couple of dead tree snags provided perches for a trio of EAKI, until they were chased off by an unruly gang of juvenile EUST. Talk about invasive species!

Further down the trail, we saw two birds hanging out together in shallow water. We assumed they were the same species – which turned out to be a mistake. One had a long, slightly upturned bill and was standing up straight on one brightly colored yellow leg – great field marks for GRYE. Reviewing photos later in the day, we noticed that the other bird had a much chunkier straight dark bill, indicating that it was a WILL.

From that point, we were also able to get better looks at several GREG and SNEG. We were hoping for a more uncommon TRHE or LBHE, which both resemble SNEG. Unfortunately, we dipped on both of those.

Looking at the mud flats across the trail, we noticed some movement that looked like a handful of small shorbs. Then some more movement – we’d misjudged how many were there. Then even more movement. So many small plovers and peeps were working the flats – mostly SESA and SEPL with a few LESA mixed in. We were trying to count them (our best estimate in the moment was 90+), when a PEFA swooped in and flushed them all. The peeps managed to avoid the BOP this time, and the PEFA flew off in search of an easier meal.

On our walk back, we tallied the species and counts for the morning: an impressive 30 species with 249 individual birds. You can view our eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S268978601.

See below for a list of abbreviations used in this report or check out The Institute for Bird Populations for a complete listing.

Stay tuned for our next trip announcement. We’ll be heading to Monhegan Island in September, hoping for a fall migration fallout! In the meantime, here’s to fog-free bins and cooperative nemesis birds. Happy twitching and may all your dips become lifers!

Abbreviation Key:

AMCR: American Crows

AMGO: American Goldfinch

BARS: Barn Swallow (tricky one! To avoid a code collision, Barn Swallow is BARS and Bank Swallow is BANS)

BEKI: Belted Kingfisher

Bins: Binoculars

BLJA: Blue Jay

BOP: Bird of prey

BWHA: Broad-winged Hawk

CEWA: Cedar Waxwing

Dip: Missing a target bird

EAKI: Eastern Kingbird

EUST: European Starling

Fallout: Large numbers of migratory birds forced down by weather conditions

GBHE: Great Blue Heron

GREG: Great Egret

GRYE: Greater Yellowlegs

LBHE: Little Blue Heron

LBJ: Little Brown Jobs – small brown birds like sparrows or wrens (aka LBB, Little Brown Birds)

LESA: Least Sandpiper

Lifer: First-time bird sighting (aka Lifebird)

Nemesis bird: A species that constantly eludes a birder

NOCA: Northern Cardinal

NOHA: Northern Harrier

Peeps: Small sandpipers that give peeping calls. The three common peeps in North America are Least Sandpiper (LESA), Semipalmated Sandpiper (SESA) and Western Sandpiper (WESA). Two similar small shorebirds are Baird’s (BASA) and White-rumped Sandpipers (WRSA).

PEFA: Peregrine Falcon

RTHA: Red-tailed Hawk

SALS: Saltmarsh Sparrow (another tricky one! To avoid a code collision, Saltmarsh Sparrow is abbreviated SALS and Savannah Sparrow is SASP)

ScarMar: Scarborough Marsh

SEPL: Semipalmated Plover

SESA: Semipalmated Sandpiper

Shorbing: Shore-birding or Shorebird-watching, the act of observing and identifying shorebirds

SNEG: Snowy Egret

SOSA: Solitary Sandpiper

SOSP: Song Sparrow

SPSA: Spotted Sandpiper

Tick: Adding a bird to one’s life list