birding-aus

Re 'English Australian bird names'

To: Nikolas Haass <>
Subject: Re 'English Australian bird names'
From: Carl Clifford <>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:57 +1100
I think you would find it difficult to convince an American birder that a Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike is a Blue-Jay

Carl Clifford


On 20/11/2009, at 8:12 AM, Nikolas Haass wrote:

Keep in mind that a large number of English bird names both in Australia and American are misnomers, because they were named by their superficial resemblance to European birds more familiar to the British people colonizing other continents. Brushturkeys aren't turkeys, WW Choughs aren't choughs, Aussie Magpies aren't magpies, Old World Warblers, New World Warblers and Gerygones are unrelated taxonomic groups, robins aren't robins, chats aren't chats, flycatchers aren't flycatchers, treecreepers aren't treecreepers, wrens aren't wrens, songlarks aren't larks (but Old World Warblers!)...

Does it matter? Maybe not. But it can get quite complicated when you guide people from other continents who quite often get very confused...

Cheers,

Nikolas

----------------
Nikolas Haass

Sydney, NSW



----- Original Message ----
From: Carl Clifford <>
To: Tony Russell <>
Cc: ; Pat OMalley <>
Sent: Thu, November 19, 2009 11:48:41 PM
Subject: Re 'Jabiru'

Sorry Tony, it's not. We were beaten to the punch by hundreds of years. People were calling a bird in S. America "Jabiru" hundreds if not thousands of years before we European blow-ins arrived in Australia and it was picked up by Europeans in S America when Australia was a blank on the map. I prefer Jabiru myself, but I accept the fact that someone got there first, and no amount of tanties and holding your breath till you go blue in the face will change it. Someone made a stuff up with the name yonks ago, and I don't see why it should be perpetuated.

Cheers,

Carl Clifford


On 19/11/2009, at 10:59 PM, Tony Russell wrote:

It's a JABIRU !

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Pat OMalley
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:55 PM
To: 
Subject: Re 'Jabiru'


Before folk get too patriotic, it's worth remembering that the Black
Necked Stork is found pretty much across southern Asia. It may be a bit
presumptuous to assume we have naming rights!

Cheers

Pat
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