Style Guide A to Z

A

accipiter: Use this lowercased and roman (unitalicized) in reference to the general group of accipiter hawks. For the genus, use Accipiter
acknowledgments: not “acknowledgements”
Adirondacks (not Adirondack Mountains)
Allegany (County, State Park, Reservation)
Allegheny (River, Mountains, Reservoir)
all-time
and: (Write out in running text. Use ampersand (&) sparingly and only in titles or when space constrained (e.g., some social media)
AOS (American Ornithological Society): Formed by the merger of the AOU (American Ornithologists’ Union) and COS (Cooper Ornithological Society) in 2016
AOS Checklist: (replaced the AOU Check-list (and lost the hyphen) in the 2016 merger (see above)
arctic vs. Arctic: capitalize when a noun referring to the region; lowercase as an adjective (e.g. breeds in the Arctic vs. breeds in arctic tundra)
Atlantic Coast
atlaser (referring to participants in Breeding Bird Atlas projects)
atlasing
Atlas map
Atlas project

B

backyard
bald cypress
bark-gleaning
benefited
Big Day, Big-Day [adj]
Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP): Name changed to K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics as of 2021. Directorship is also named: the John W. Fitzpatrick Director.
birdbath
bird box
BirdCast: A joint project of the Lab, Colorado State University, UMass Amherst, and others. It should not be referred to as “our” BirdCast project or otherwise written about in a way that makes it seem entirely a Lab project.
BirdCast Migration Dashboard: (introduced in 2022) All words in name are capped.
birder (preferred in NY State Atlas project to birdwatcher).
bird feeder
bird feeding [n]
birdhouse
birdlife
Bird Population Studies (BPS): program of the Lab until late 2010s, when reorganized and merged with Center for Avian Population Studies
BirdScope – note that this Lab newsletter was discontinued in 2011
birdseed
Birdshare – Lab’s photo-sharing group on Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/birdshare; largely superseded in late 2010s by Macaulay Library archive, which has more straightforward usage agreements and includes metadata via eBird checklists
bird song [n] , birdsong [adj]
Birds in Forested Landscapes – former project of the Lab until about 2010
bird sound
Birds of North America: In 2020, Birds of North America and Neotropical Birds were merged with Birds of the World along with Handbook of the Birds of the World content.
BirdSource.
Birds Canada/Oiseaux Canada. Was known as Bird Studies Canada until Jan 2020.
bird walks, not birdwalks
birdwatcher [n]: we updated our style on this point in April 2020 during rollout of Joy of Birdwatching course on Bird Academy. Previous style had been two words.
birdwatching [n, adj]: see above
Black: capitalize when referring to African American and other ethnically/racially Black people and groups. This style follows recent popular usage and acknowledges the historic struggles and injustices faced by Black communities.
bottomland
Boy Scout
breast band
breeding grounds
Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)
Breeding Bird Survey routes
brush pile
bulrush [singular and plural]
buteo: Lowercase and roman (unitalicized) in reference to the general group of hawks. The genus is written Buteo

C

cacti
call note
CamClickr
Celebrate Urban Birds (Note: Only use “CUBs” internally or, when space constraints or flow of writing make it necessary, only use after the initial use as “Celebrate Urban Birds”
checklist
Christmas Bird Count (CBC)
citizen science [n] (not Citizen Science): use “participatory science” in place of citizen science to be more inclusive
citizen-science [adj]
clearcut (one word) as in forestry practice
Coastal Solutions Fellows Program
coauthor
color band
community science:  refers to efforts that are designed by communities to directly benefit their communities. Use this term when a project is community led
Conservation Science (Lab program within the Center for Avian Population Studies)
continentwide
Cornell Botanic Garden (formerly Cornell Plantations)
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

• Always use “the Cornell Lab of Ornithology” in the first reference to our institution in any written document or verbal interview. Subsequent references can be shortened to “Cornell Lab,” or “the Lab.” For informal writing such as social media posts, you may use “Cornell Lab” at first reference if the context is clear
• Don’t capitalize “the” unless it is the first word of a sentence
• Affiliations in scientific papers: use Cornell Lab of Ornithology as the preferred name. If you have an affiliation with campus as well, we suggest using Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Cornell University.
• Our institutional name is “Cornell Lab of Ornithology”; do not use a shortened form such as “Lab of Ornithology” in a citation. If the citation wants your institution and location, “Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York” is correct
• Do not use “Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology,” “Lab of O,” “CLO,” “O Lab,” “Cornell University Lab of Ornithology,” or “Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology” in any official publications
• Please see the writing about the Lab section for more information

Covid-19: to be consistent, use inital cap and add “-19”; preferred over “COVID-19” or “Covid”
cropland

D

data (typically takes a singular verb)
data bank
database
dataset
Douglas-fir
downcurved — or often better and simpler: “curved”; use in place of decurved in All About Birds for clarity with novice audience

E

eBird
en-dash: Longer than a hyphen and shorter than an em-dash. Mainly used to indicate ranges of numbers. Do not put spaces on either side of an en-dash. To make an en-dash, use option-hyphen on a Mac, or alt+0151 on a PC. Or here’s one you can copy and paste – .
eNews
email
em-dash: Longer than a hyphen or en-dash. Mainly used to indicate a break in thought within a sentence. Do not put spaces on either side of an em-dash. To make an em-dash, use shift-option-hyphen on a Mac, or alt+0151 on a PC. Or here’s one you can copy and paste — .
the Earth: capitalize when referring to the planet (but not in cases such as “the smell of fresh earth”)
the East, East Coast
eastern
extrapair
eyeline
eyering

F

farmland
farther: (preferred over “further” when referring to distance; use “further” to indicate an additional degree, time, or quantity)
FeederWatch (Use Project FeederWatch the first time, then the shorter name.)
fence post
field guide
field marks
fieldwork(er)
Fitzpatrick, John W. (“Fitz”) – fifth director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, served from 1995 to 2021. Use middle initial when providing full name.
Flickr (the website, not the bird)
flockmates
flycatching: fine to use this word even if the bird doing the flycatching is not a “flycatcher” (i.e., Tyrannidae, Muscicapidae, and Monarchidae).
flyway, capped when referring to an established flyway such as Atlantic Flyway, Mississippi Flyway, Central Flyway, Pacific Flyway
forego (come before)
forgo (give up; do without)
freelance [adj, vi]; freelancer
freshwater [adj]
fundraising, fundraiser

G

Galapagos (no accent)
game bird
Golden-Wing Society (hyphenated)
gray
Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
greenbrier
green space
ground-foraging [adj]
ground-nesting [adj]
Gulf Coast, Gulf of Mexico coast

H

hardcover
Hawaii [n] Increasingly this is being spelled with a diacritical: Hawai’i, in recognition of the resurgence of native culture and attempt to bring the Hawaiian language back to life. However this conflicts with the general usage guideline to minimize diacriticals when writing in English, since for most English readers they don’t add meaning and can make text difficult to read. (ex. Chicago Manual of Style advises foreign words should be checked carefully for special characters but diacriticals should be minimized in text; sections 10.14 and 10.92, 15th ed.). Decisions may need to be made on a case by case basis. Note that the ‘okina (‘) is shaped like an opening single quote; a curved apostrophe should not be used but a straight single quote may be used. The other Hawaiian diacritical is the kahakō (ō). Additional note: anglicized variations on Hawaii, such as “Hawaiian” and “Hawaii’s” should not take the diacritical even if it’s used for “Hawai’i.”
hawkwatch
hay field
headlines: for guidance on capitalization, see Title Case section of Usage page
heliconia (common name); Heliconia (genus name)
heronry
high Andes
high Arctic
hind claw (not hindclaw)
home school [n, as in the place where one is homeschooled]
homeschool [v], homeschooler [n], homeschooling [n, adj]
Home Study Course (Lab program)
hotspot (as in “birding hotspot”)
House Finch Disease Survey. Tracked the spread of House Finch eye disease from 1994 into the 2010s. See House Finch Eye Disease: Outbreak, Then Understanding for more background.
http, https: see URLs

I

ibises [pl.]
illustrations: digital rights to the Handbook of the Birds of the World illustrations were acquired in 2020 and are featured prominently on Birds of the World. When used elsewhere in the Lab’s digital properties, they should be credited as “Illustration by © Cornell Lab of Ornithology”
insect life [cf. birdlife]
internet: we now lowercase this word (beginning 2024), to follow new practice by both Chicago Manual of Style and Associated Press

J

K

L

Lab associate
the Lab
land acknowledgment: i.e., use American English spelling of “acknowledgment”
landbirds
landowners
life cycle
life list
like: when used as a suffix, follow Chicago Style and use without hyphen with words of fewer than 3 syllables (catlike, childlike) except when the base word ends in an l (owl-like, gull-like)
live stream, live streaming, live streamed, etc. (2 words, hyphenate when used as adjectives)
Livestream (when referring to the company/brand)
Living Bird
log in [v]
login [adj, as in “what’s your login name?”]
log out

M

Macaulay Library (ML) (includes video collection) Do not capitalize The in the middle of a sentence. Full official name is the Linda R. & William E. Macaulay Library.
manmade (better to reword)
marine autonomous recording unit (often referred to internally as a MARU or pop-up—avoid the acronym where possible. This term has previously been capitalized and some BRP/CCB folks may wish to continue capitalizing. In nontechnical publications the consensus is that the lowercased words adequately describe the device and there’s little benefit in implying something different by capitalizing.)
marsh bird
midair
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (of 1918)
mist net

N

The Nature Conservancy
Neotropical, Neotropics
Neotropical Birds (name changed in 2016; old name was Neotropical Birds Online (Italicize in print when referring to the publication. Online, no need to italicize when also hyperlinking.) In 2020, Birds of North America and Neotropical Birds were merged with Birds of the World along with Handbook of the Birds of the World content.
nest boxes: not nestboxes. Also fine to use “birdhouses”
nest sites or nesting sites
nestmate
NestWatch: not “Project NestWatch.” Do not shorten to “NW.”
New York State
nonbreeding (more generally, “non-” is a prefix; it does not need a hyphen except where it might be misread, e.g., “non-native”)
nonprofit
Northeast
northern hardwood forest
nyjer seed

O

one million
one-quarter
online
owl-like
one-week-old: hyphenate when used as a compound adjective. “the one-week-old nestling” vs. “the nestling was one week old”
Owens, Ian: Sixth director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Took office in July 2021. His wife’s name is Sally Gibbins.

P

page (not pg.)
pair bond
participatory science: use in place of citizen science
The Peregrine Fund
PhD (no periods)
photo essay
pop-up (always hyphenated). Refers to marine autonomous recording unit frequently used by the Bioacoustics Research Program (now Yang Center) in the early 2000s and 2010s. Capitalize when referring to a specific one, such as “Pop-up 384.” For technical reports, in the first citation call it a “Marine Autonomous Recording Unit (MARU)” and then use MARU after that.
Project FeederWatch: Use the entire project name first in an article; after that, FeederWatch can be used. When space is at a premium, you can use PFW as a second reference.
postdoc: no hyphen; ok to use as second reference. On first reference, use “postdoctoral researcher” or “postdoctoral associate.” Do not use “postdoctoral student.”
Project PigeonWatch: former Lab project, now discontinued
ptarmigan (singular and plural)

Q

R

radio transmitter (n)
rainforest
Raven (For clarity, Raven Interactive Sound Analysis Software might be used first, and then Raven). Also Raven Pro, Raven Pro 1.4, Raven Lite, Raven Lite 1.0, Raven Exhibit, and Raven Viewer. For more information see https://www.birds.cornell.edu/ccb/raven-pro/
the Redheads (the Lab’s World Series of Birding student team(s)
reestablish
Rio Grande Valley
riverbank (one word)
riverbottom [adj]
rooftop
Road, not Rd.

S

saltcedar
saltmarsh
saltwater [adj]
salt water [n]
the Sapsuckers (the Lab’s Big Day teams)
sapwell
Scotch pine
seabird
sea duck (two words)
seagull: in standard English “seagull” is a synonym of “gull.” The word has been in use since 1542. Experienced birders often feel it is acceptable to criticize the term (since not all gulls are seen at sea). However, when addressing a wider audience be aware that this trope can easily make people feel uncomfortable, uninformed, or excluded.
semiopen (one word)
shallow-water [adj]
shorebird
shrubsteppe
sign up [v]
sign-up [adj]
single-brooded
smartphone
songbird
Southern California
Species of Special Concern (NTSDEC list)
spectrogram or sound spectrogram: Do not use spectrograph—that’s an instrument that generates spectrograms, and virtually all natural sound spectrograms are now generated with software such as Raven, not with a spectrograph. Also, spectrogram is preferable to sonagram to avoid confusion with medical images from ultrasound procedures.
sphagnum moss
spiderweb
stick nest
swampland
sweetgum

T

takeoff (n., adj.) take off (v.)
tailless (one word, no hyphen)
tape-recorded [v or adj] (not tape recorded)
The Nature Conservancy
The Peregrine Fund
title case: see Title Case section of Usage page
titmice (pl.): we occasionally hear from people who would like the plural of “titmouse” to be “titmouses” on the grounds that the titmouse is not really a mouse; however, we reject that argument.
timberline
treeline
treetop
tree trunk

U

under-recorded (but underfed; close up unless verb begins with “r”)
United States [n; cf U.S. = adj]
U.N. (United Nations)
Upstate New York
URLs: In print, do not write the “https://”; it is acceptable to drop the “www.” in most cases as well (e.g., “birds.cornell.edu/home”). Online, best practice when providing links is to use descriptive, clickable link text rather than writing out the URL. Avoid generic “Learn more” or “Read more” link text, and be aware that no page should contain instances of the same link text that point to different URLs. Note that “http://” indicates a nonsecure website and should not be used. The industry standard “https://” indicates a secure website and is used for all Cornell Lab websites.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
underparts, underwing (closed up)
upperparts, upperwing (closed up)
upside-down [adj]

V

visitor center (capped when referring specifically to our Visitor Center; otherwise lowercase)

W

waterbird
waterfowl
the Web
webpage
website
the West, West Coast: be aware that these terms assume audience is North American
western
Western Hemisphere
while (be aware this often implies a sense of time and can occasionally be confusing when used to mean “however,” “despite,” or “whereas”)
wingbar
wingbeat
wingspan
wing stripe
wingtip
woodlot
World Series of Birding
worldwide
www: see URLs

XYZ