Ian,
Thanks for this one, it is a classic.
Recently in the Chronicle there was a quiz question “what colour are the
legs of a Jabiru?” The answer they gave was red. I then politely informed
them that the Jabiru’s legs are in fact black, the red ones belonged to
the bird they thought they were using which obviously was the Black-necked
Stork, incorrectly referred to in Australia as Jabiru. I asked them to reply
admitting their mistake – I am still waiting!
Have you tried educating the Longreach
Council as to the error of their ways; I’m sure we would all like to see
their reply!
Cheers,
Mark
From: Ian Fraser [
Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 7:03
PM
Cc: 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] bird
names.
I won't weigh into this one again. (Other than to
disagree with the proposal that we 'do (not)/should (not)' follow any dicta
with regard to it. There are no accepted rules and our responsibility is simply
to use whatever form we believe communicates most clearly, and to be
consistent.)
I am rather responding to Mark's comments about Jabirus. I recently saw this
rather fine street sign in Longreach, central Qld. Nearly all other street
names in town are of birds, all Australian; many people do still refer to our
only stork as 'Jabiru', and I'm sure the local council intends this street to
be named for it. Unfortunately the pic is of what Mark would call the 'real'
Jabiru, from the Amazon basin. A salutory lesson not to rely too heavily on the
first answer you get from Google...
cheers all
Ian
Mark Clayton wrote:
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: [canberrabirds] 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: RE: [canberrabirds] 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: [canberrabirds] 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: RE: [canberrabirds] 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: [canberrabirds] 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
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--
Ian Fraser,
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Consultancy
GPO Box 3268, Canberra, ACT 2601
ph: 61 2 6249 1560
---
