The Match Bird Names and Codes web page provides a convenient mechanism for matching English bird names, scientific bird names, 4-letter codes derived from English names, and 6-letter codes derived from scientific names. Several examples are shown below:
By selecting other options, it is also possible to match 4-letter and 6-letter Institute for Bird populations (IBP) codes.
Example 1 — Matching any name or code. Matching any name or code allows one to find any listing that contains the text to be matched. Often matching any name or code will generate the desired results even though a particular name or code is not specified. This method is used unless another method is selected. For example, matching Canada generates the results displayed in Table 1.
Table 1 Match type: Any name or code. Text to match: Canada |
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IBP 4-letter code |
English name | Scientific name | IBP 6-letter code |
CCGO | +Cackling/Canada Goose | Branta hutchinsii/canadensis | BRAHUC |
CANG* | Canada Goose | Branta canadensis | BRACAN |
LCGO | +Large Canada Goose | Branta canadensis moffitti | BRACMO |
SCGO | +Small Canada Goose | Branta canadensis parvipes | BRACPA |
CAJA | Canada Jay | Perisoreus canadensis | PERCAN |
CAWA | Canada Warbler | Cardellina canadensis | CADCAN* |
Note that the IBP 4-letter code for Canada Goose is followed by an asterisk (*) because it differs from the 1st-order code "CAGO." There is a conflict because Canada Goose and Cackling Goose both have the same 1st-order code. Also note that English names that are preceded by a plus sign (+) do not refer to species.
Example 2 — Matching only English names. Matching English names allows one to find IBP 4-letter codes, scientific names, and IBP 6-letter codes from an English name. Usually, it's not necessary to enter the complete English name to get usable results. Table 2 was produced by matching the text egret to English names.
Table 2 Match type: English names. Text to match: egret |
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IBP 4-letter code |
English name | Scientific name | IBP 6-letter code |
GREG | Great Egret | Ardea alba | ARDALB |
INEG | Intermediate Egret | Ardea intermedia | ARDINT |
CHEG | Chinese Egret | Egretta eulophotes | EGREUL |
LIEG | Little Egret | Egretta garzetta | EGRGAR |
WERH | Western Reef-Heron | Egretta gularis | EGRGUL |
SNEG | Snowy Egret | Egretta thula | EGRTHU |
LBHE | Little Blue Heron | Egretta caerulea | EGRCAE |
TRHE | Tricolored Heron | Egretta tricolor | EGRTRI |
REEG | Reddish Egret | Egretta rufescens | EGRRUF |
CAEG | Cattle Egret | Bubulcus ibis | BUBIBI |
Note that matching is not case-sensitive. The same results would have been returned by matching Egret, EGRET or eGrEt.
Example 3 — Matching only scientific names. Three different genera are represented in Table 2: Ardea, Egretta, and Bubulcus. Some birds with "Egret" in their English names are not in the genus Egretta. If we match "egret" in scientific names we get the results shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Match type: Scientific names. Text to match: egret |
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IBP 4-letter code |
English name | Scientific name | IBP 6-letter code |
CHEG | Chinese Egret | Egretta eulophotes | EGREUL |
LIEG | Little Egret | Egretta garzetta | EGRGAR |
WERH | Western Reef-Heron | Egretta gularis | EGRGUL |
SNEG | Snowy Egret | Egretta thula | EGRTHU |
LBHE | Little Blue Heron | Egretta caerulea | EGRCAE |
TRHE | Tricolored Heron | Egretta tricolor | EGRTRI |
REEG | Reddish Egret | Egretta rufescens | EGRRUF |
Notice that English names of birds in the genus Egretta don't necessarily contain the word "egret".