My personal experience visiting several countries in Europe, South-America and North America is that serious birders use the entire common name. Professional ornithologists use latin names and/or some times the entire common name. US is the only country I have seen using acronyms on birds names. I am sure in the future this curious behavior will spread far from the US borders... Unfortunately. Christian Muñoz-Donoso Wildlife Cinematographer Equilibrio Films, LLC 102 Russell Street 2nd Fl. Hadley, Massachusetts 01035-0377 Studio: 413 585 0095 Office: 413 367 0093 Fax: 1-413-367 0093 www.EquilibrioFilms.com www.WildViewSeries.org -----Original Message----- From: Larry and Mona Rogers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 04:24 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [VTBIRD] Abbreviations - it's a status thing. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable People, we're missing the point. By using TLA's (Three Letter =Acronyms) in your postings, you can mark yourself as a really serious, =near-professional birder, far beyond the mere amateurs who have to spell =things out. Instant in-crowd status! LTC (Larry The Curmudgeon)