[Oehoe]

Here, have a silly thread.
I love words, and that combines with my love of birding.
My personal favourite is "burgemeester" one of our words referring to a gull literally meaning "mayor" in Dutch. For example "grote burgemeester" is the glaucous gull. Much like English (and Dutch) uses cardinal to refer to a bird. Similarly is "bisschop"/"bishop" referring to a few birds in the cardinal family.
Dutch uses heavily descriptive names, like English, to describe birds poetically. "Torenvalk" literally meaning "tower falcon" to mean a kestrel is a nice simple one. "Oehoe" my username, is an onomatopoeic word used for owl. Another one like that is "kwak" meaning black crowned night heron. Other faves are "goudengrondspecht"/"golden ground woodpecker" (northern flicker, I like that name just as much), "woudaap"/"wood ape" (least bittern), "gewone maskerzanger"/common "masked singer" (common yellowthroat, zanger the word for warbler), "epauletspreeuw"(red-winged blackbird), "dikbekfuut"/"thick billed grebe" (pied-billed grebe, fun to say" lol), "huismus" (house sparrow, also fun to say), "Pacifische parelduiker"/"Pacific pearl diver" (Pacific loon, of course), "nonnetje"/little nun (smew), "brilduiker"/"spectacled diver" (goldeneye), "ransuil"/"rancid owl" (long-eared owl), "zwanhalsfuut"/"swan-throated grebe" (Western grebe), "pestvogel"/"plague bird" (waxwing).
I also love Kolibrie for hummingbird, borrowed from Spanish, it just sounds nice.

For English I love waxwing, chiffchaff, ovenbird, fieldfare, harlequin duck, creeper, prothonotary warbler, catbird, nightjar/nighthawk, starling, bufflehead, gyrfalcon, limpkin, andturnstone. Nightingale meaning night songstress. Also "harrier" meaning to rob originally. "Peregrine" referring to tthe falcon refers to a foreigner/stranger from Latin. "Bobolink" is onomatopoeic. I also love all hummingbird descriptors such as sunbeam and woodstar. And the fact that flycatchers are called tyrants. Much more that I forget.

Latinate names I love Regulus satrapa (golden-crowned kinglet) meaning I believe prince-chief? Regulus calendula (ruby-crowned kinglet) meaning prince by the month? Strange but pretty. Haliaeetus leucocephalus (bald eagle) is simple but elegant, literally meaning white headed sea eagle. Aix sponsa (wood duck) meaning water bride. Anas strepera (gadwall) meaning noisy duck. Molothrus ater (brown-headed cowbird) meaning dull black impregnator-struggle? Icterids, which include blackbirds, derives from icterus meaning jaundice. Lanius excubitor (northern shrike) meaning sentinel butcher.

Sorry for the looong list! I hope that this thread does not get baaaahleted.

[Jeremy Gatten]

I have spent a bit of time birding in the neotropics and one of the signature sounds of lowland forests starting in southern Mexico is Montezuma Oropendola. In fact, all oropendolas look and sound pretty amazing. The word oropendola has Spanish roots and roughly translates to "golden pendulum". This refers to the fact that many oropendola species have a radiant golden tail. As they sing, they swing forward on the branch almost the point of hanging upside down and then recoil back - this causes the golden tail to swing around. A golden pendulum - it never gets old!

Here's a video example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp_g6hXGN1c

I hope that's the kind of thing you're looking for!

Jeremy Gatten
Saanichton, BC

[Oehoe]

That is so cool, Jeremy! I must see one, hopefully on my first trip to Mexico!
This is exactly the kind of response I wanted to see, too.

[Jerry]

Jeremy. Thank you for that info about Montezuma's Oropendola. I have seen them and heard them before in Calakmul. But until now never thought about the source of their name. We are headed with others to Chiapas in about 2 weeks. I am now especially going to look for Oropendolas doing the swing! Thanks.

[hawker]

Going back on to the thread's original topic briefly, I love the names that are literally after a sound, or call they make. Some of my favourites: Calfbird, Bare-throated Bellbird (one of the loudest calls of a bird species in terms of distance), Screaming Piha, Cheer Pheasant, and Common Piping Guan.

Back on to what you were discussing: The Montezuma Oropendola does have a very interesting swing-call! Can certainly see why they look like pendulums..

Has anyone ever seen and or heard of a Maleo? Thanks to BBC I have fallen for these guys as possibly being my favourite species. Maleos are from Sulawesi and dig pit nests, that hatch their eggs for them. They also have a very interesting look!

[FYLegend]

In Chinese the Spotted Nutcracker is called Xing-Ya which translates to "Star Crow". Meanwhile, Jays are called Song-Ya meaning "Pine Crow". Barbets and Pittas are referred to as Five-Coloured birds and Eight-Coloured birds respectively. Tufted Ducks are called "Phoenix-Crested Ducks", Common Teal "Little Water Duck" and Mergansers are called "Autumn Sand ducks". Kingfishers are called Cui-Niao meaning "Jade Bird". In the Taiwanese dialect they're called Hee-Gao which means "Fish-Dog".

I'm not a big fan of names after some early naturalist because it imposes a colonialist tone towards nomenclature. Or in simple matters it doesn't really tell much about the bird! Names like "Swinhoe's Pheasant" or "Barrow's Goldeneye." Though I still use these names as they've been largely universally adopted [and we can't change Latin names unless an older one is uncovered in literature which takes priority]. Another thing would be names like "Ring-Necked Duck" and "Red-Bellied Woodpecker". I like "Mikado Pheasant" though, despite its name referring to the emperor of Japan and being a species from Taiwan. This majestic species is like an emperor. Its Chinese name is usually called Dizhi meaning "Emperor" Pheasant as well.

[Oehoe]

Those Chinese names sound sublime! I'm half Chinese myself but I gotta admit that I am quite ignorant of the language, let alone species names. Thanks for sharing!
And I favour descriptive names myself but those naturalist names do give me the window to look up. Who is Barrow or Swainson or Swinhoe.

[FYLegend]

I'm not fluent in reading/writing Chinese, only speaking, as I've grown up in BC for most of my life.

I do agree that some of the histories of these naturalists "discoveries" were interesting. Robert Swinhoe for example was one of the first to describe various birds species in Taiwan while serving as a consul. However, I did read he made some disparaging remarks about Chinese and Aboriginal Taiwanese people - not unusual for the time but often I find local names to be more descriptive and should be embraced. Locally this species is known as the "Blue-Breasted Pheasant" in Mandarin. In the Taiwanese dialect it is called the "Flowered Fowl", or Red-Legged Creature/Child. Japanese naturalists called it the Fire-winged pheasant. The red legs distinguish it from the Mikado Pheasant, another endemic blue-coloured pheasant depicted on the Taiwan 1000-dollar bill. However, people still get the two species mixed up.