During my vists to Australia I was fascinated (and occasionally
stumped) by the national craze to abbreviate all that can possibly be
abbreviated, from Tazzie to garbos. Also birds do not escape, and it took me
some time to find my way among the Kookies and cockies, and to figures out what
Fuskies were. On my first trip with a fishing boat off Wollangong, where we put
out baited traps in 1993 on a transect from 50 to 1000 m depth (I have done
this several places , from Cape Tasman in the south to Cairns in the north, so
have seen quite a number of your pelagics), I remember the skipper , who knew
of my birding interest, calling out: There's your Albie!, when the first
albatross came into view. So it is fun to see a debate breaking out on
Birding-aus, asking for further abbreviations!
For the rest I am of the opinion, that regional names are often the
best to keep the local people interested, never mind that they vary from area
to area and that often the same name is used for different birds in different
areas. Here in N.Norway people talk about Kattugle and Musvåg, although neither
bird (the Tawny Owl and the Common Buzzard) occurs in the north; the names are
transposed to the Short-eared Owl and the Rough-legged Buzzard. But it is no
use to try to correct the locals in these things; these names are valid
regional names for the birds concerned.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
