I use Flubcos (FLBCs). They litter my notebooks and make data-entry easier. These days, I don't need to remember the code because look-up software allows me to guess by typing the first two letters of each name or the first letters of each word in a bird's name if it is >2. Conflicting codes are provided as alternatives. I tend not to use Flubcos in polite conversation, though, and they have waxed and waned in popularity among birders. I remember a time when many spoke them aloud. "Look at the moh-dohs (MODO) on the feeder." Or, "I found a boh-boh (BOBO)." Mourning Dove and Bobolink, if you were wondering. For a time, birds in the genus Childonias, which includes Black Tern, were called marsh-terns. Hence, BLMT (Black Marsh-Tern) became fashionable. It wasn't long after that when BLMT became the limit—say that out loud and you'll see what I mean—and LABU became taboo. That last one was for Lazuli Bunting. Who wouldn't want to write the word lazuli?
It's fun to see the flubcos return. It reminds me of my childhood when I learned my home phone number as Elgin-5 4678. The AT&T exchange names were both popular and standardized in those days. But do we miss them?
Returning to CAEG there's something Old English and appealing about that one (apparently it means "key"). But I digress. The real question is why English failed to come up with a singular noun for ungulates in the genus Bos, cattle being a peculiar example. See here for more on that topic: https://flic.kr/p/bBLVYG (a photo of a Cattle Egret and a caption).
Good birding!
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
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