canberrabirds

Great Crested Grebe and bird names.

To: "'Philip Veerman'" <>, "'Geoffrey Dabb'" <>, "'Canberra Birds'" <>
Subject: Great Crested Grebe and bird names.
From: "Mark Clayton" <>
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:33:59 +1000
Which, when it is all boiled down, shows we should be using scientific
names. However I dread to think how many spelling mistakes we would get in
something like Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus (Black-necked Stork for those who
don't know the name) - it would also get away from the misnomer of Jabiru!

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Veerman  
Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 5:26 PM
To: 'Geoffrey Dabb'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: Great Crested Grebe and bird names.

Yes that one is dopey. Especially when considered alongside the
Yellow-wattled Bird. Both really do not fit the system. In defence I
note that there is no hyphen in these names, so we have an escape clause
from silliness there.  I can only suggest that "bird" as a group name is
not definitive enough because a Red-wattled Bird could also be a
chicken. Somehow it seems that Red-wattled Bird was transformed into
Wattlebird as a group name. At the least they should be Red-wattled
Wattlebird and Yellow-wattled Wattlebird.

Philip

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Dabb  
Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 4:58 PM
To: 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: Great Crested Grebe and bird names.


And tell us about that Red-wattled Bird ... 

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Veerman  
Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 4:53 PM
To: 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: Great Crested Grebe and bird names.

Formally we do not / should not use lower case for any bird names. In
this case it is potentially confusing though. The question probably
should be why is it Great Crested Grebe rather than Great-crested Grebe?
It is a fair question because so many bird names are written in the
format of Great-crested Grebe. Like Red-rumped Parrot. The difference
is, it is Red-rumped (similarly in so many other examples) because these
two words are related, the red is descriptive of the rump (at least in
males). It is not meaning it is a red parrot with a rump. However for
Great Crested Grebe the great is not descriptive of the crest (although
it could have been). It is a grebe and presumably was described as being
great (big) and with a crest. The name could equally be Crested Great
Grebe.

Philip

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Clayton  
Sent: Monday, 14 June 2010 6:36 PM
To: 'Elizabeth Compston'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: great crested grebe

Elizabeth,

Regardless of which taxonomic authority you use, ALL common names for
species are capitalised. I don't use Christidis and Boles as it is now
already out of date but they use capitals, the IOC uses capitals,
Clements uses capitals and I am sure there are other lists out there and
they will also use capitals.

Cheers,

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Compston  
Sent: Monday, 14 June 2010 6:21 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: great crested grebe


I was at the new lake at Dulop this afternoon.   had not realised  
what a big lake it was.  I was delighted to see a pair of Great  
CrestednGrebes, a pair of musk ducks, and a pair of Australasian  
Grebes.  (Why do we use capital letters for some birds and lower case  
for others?)

Also at Googong Dam on Wednesday, I saw a pair of musk ducks.

There is Grasslands Nature Reserve at Dunlop.  And it sure is only  
grassland, not a tree or shrub to be seen.  But it seems to me that  
it would be a real fire hazard in windy conditions, even if the  
weather was not hot.  Anyone know anything about it.  The street  
beside it is Kerrigan and there are lots of houses around

Elizabeth


************************************************************************
****
***************************



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU