I've always liked "Australian Wood Duck" too. I don't think it's too ambiguous.
It looks very different than the Wood Duck of North America as well. Also, there are
quite a few ambiguities like that, such as the Robins of Australia versus North America
and Europe, the latter of which are thrushes. I think the history and idiosyncracy of the
matter is rather cool too, which shows how the birds were named back in the day when
people used visual similarities as guides.
Jason Polak
On 2025-07-15 2:48 a.m., Phil Gregory wrote:
I used Australian Gull-billed Tern in my new edition of the Lynx New Guinea
book, seems easy enough and Australian Tern is too generic.
I dislike Maned Duck and would prefer Australian Wood Duck, do your homework and you can see
it’s not related to Carolina Duck 😊
Many more to come I am sure but the prevailing local usage should be the go to
name….
Regards from Bogota en route to Quito
Phil Gregory
Sent from my iPhone
On 14 Jul 2025, at 10:08 pm, Martin Butterfield <> wrote:
I suspect this will be the first of (at least) a mini-series.
Martin Butterfield
http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/ <http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/>
https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/
<https://mallacootaweatherwildlife.blogspot.com/>
On Tue, 15 Jul 2025 at 10:15, Geoffrey Dabb via Birding-Aus <
<>> wrote:
Those with no interest in English bird names, please read no further. Of the English name changes that are in prospect following adoption of the unified taxonomy, I might draw attention to
a couple that come from an unfamiliar direction. The curious ‘Australian Tern’ is a relatively recent invention with no basis in usage. The proposers rejected
‘Australian Gull-billed Tern’ because, from an international viewpoint, an adjective (such as ‘Common’) would need to be added for the northern species,
now just the shorter ‘Gull-billed Tern’. The name might excite the interest of North American watchers, of which there are several subscribing to this list, I
notice. ‘I’m sure looking forward to seeing one of your Australian Terns’, they’ll be saying. I do hope they will not be disappointed if it looks familiar. ____
__ __
The unfortunate ‘Maned Duck’ had the distinction of being one of the small number of recommended names rejected by popular vote in the 1980s. However, it
has renewed life, being the choice of those seeking to promote a set of ‘international English names’. Interestingly, as you can see from AviList ,
‘Maned Duck’, in defiance of the Australian preference, had been the choice of the three global lists. ‘Australian Wood Duck’, internationally, would
suggest an association with the Wood Duck of America, which might also have needed another adjective. However, our North American visitors might experience some confusion
here because the invariable pronunciation is ‘Maine Duck’. AviList https://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ <https://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/> ____
__ __
Geoffrey____
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