[EBB Sightings] Harris sparrow at Sunol, SPTO escapes bobcat!

Joe,

How's this:

"On yesterdays pelagic we saw many Buller's Shearwater, Red-necked 
Phalarope, Herring Gulls and Heerman's Gulls. I also have a Bushtit 
building a nest in my yard and the Ring-necked Pheasant in our local 
cornfield was very striking, but the HEGU [bunt] in the cage at the zoo 
was quite a surprise. The Cerulean Warbler in my yard got quite a rush 
from birders, but they were disappointed when they arrived to see only 
a flock of Cedar Waxwings instead. The Black-throated Green/Gray 
Warbler was a nice consolation prize. While waiting for the Cerulean 
Warbler, several people commented on how similar the flight calls are 
between Yellow Warbler and Yellow-throated Warbler. [reaching...]
I'm not sure, but I think the Carolina Wren sometimes imitates the song 
of the Canyon Wren and while checking through our local California 
Towhee flock I found the first state
record of Canyon Towhee."

Well, the obvious solution is to use BULS, RENP, HERG, HEEG, BUSH, 
RINP, CERW, CEDW, BTNW, BTYW, YWAR, YTWA, CARW, CANW, CALT, CANT. I do 
and I always know what I mean... Yeah, right!

Les

On Apr 26, 2005, at 3:41 PM, Joseph Morlan wrote:

> On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 15:06:46 -0700, Les Chibana  
> wrote:
>> Basic etiquette (usually unwritten) for most bird lists suggests that
>> posters spell out a bird's common name at the first usage followed by
>> whatever code you use. Thereafter, the code can be used.
> These codes are fine for personal notes or entering banding data, but I
> think are best avoided otherwise.  Here's a contest.  How many bird 
> species
> can you identify in the following message:
> On yesterdays pelagic we saw many BUSH, RNPH, HEGU and HEGU. I also 
> have a
> BUSH building a nest in my yard and the RNPH in our local cornfield was
> very striking, but the HEGU in the cage at the zoo was quite a 
> surprise.
> The CEWA in my yard got quite a rush from birders, but they were
> disappointed when they arrived to see only a flock of CEWA instead. The
> BTGW was a nice consolation prize. While waiting for the CEWA, several
> people commented on how similar the flight calls are between YEWA and 
> YEWA.
> I'm not sure, but I think the CAWR sometimes imitates the song of the 
> CAWR
> and while checking through our local CATO flock I found the first state
> record of CATO.
> -- 
> Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044  jmorlan (at) ccsf.org
> Birding Classes in SF start Feb.8  http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
> California Bird Records Committee  http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/