FW: Maybe we should call it Tiny Bittern :)

["Anthony Overs via Canberrabirds " <>]

How about:

Diminutive Bittern? Too quaint?

Puny Bittern? A bit mean?

Wee Bittern? Too Scottish?

On Tue, 4 Nov 2025 at 18:34, Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Yes Philip. A few Tinys out there.  I would spare our readers (if any), except these two recent explanations of changes in the IOC list are irresistible

 

‘Change English name of  Tyranneutes stolzmanni, a manakin, from Dwarf Tyranneutes to Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin

Change English name of Tyranneutes virescens, a manakin, from Tiny Tyranneutes to Tiny Tyrant-Manakin’

 

These are the folk who say taxonomic accuracy is not an important issue with English names.

 

From: Canberrabirds <> On Behalf Of Philip Veerman via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 4 November 2025 5:18 PM
To: 'CanberraBirds email list' <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] FW: Maybe we should call it Tiny Bittern :)

 

How many Leasts, Littles, Lessers, Dwarfs, somethings bird names are there? Plus Fairy, which probably meant the same thing? I am not aware of a Tiny. Several of the opposite too; Greats, Greaters, Giants, I don’t think we will ever get a fully accurate and appealing set of names, with so fe new words and so many birds.

 

From: Canberrabirds On Behalf Of Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 4 November, 2025 10:22 AM
To: Canberrabirds
Subject: [Canberrabirds] FW: Maybe we should call it Tiny Bittern :)

 

Maybe, Shorty, but that is not a comparative label, and an American relative has claimed the title ‘Least Bittern’.  Cornell Lab Birds of the World gives our chap as 59-120g, which is from HANZAB 1990 which gives mean of that sample as 83.9g (all Sept-Mar).  Pretty old information- It seems bittern-weighing has fallen from fashion, with so many other attractions for young people these days..   Cornell’s mean for male Least Bittern is 78.2g.  I haven’t checked other species in group.  All pretty small birds though. That Australasian Grebe paddling past the ALB is 100-230g.  It would lose the stretched-length competition, though.

 

From: Canberrabirds <> On Behalf Of shorty via Canberrabirds
Sent: Friday, 24 October 2025 6:11 PM
To: Canberra birds <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Maybe we should call it Tiny Bittern :)

 

Catching plenty of Dragonflies this afternoon.

 

Shorty

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