Re: Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re 'Jabiru'

[Paul McDonald <>]

One needs only look across the ditch to see how well this could and  
does work. I'd much rather see and talk about Kereru than NZ pigeons,  
or kakariki cf. parakeets. Far more interesting birds on paper. I  
really enjoyed the way most NZ birders adhere to the Maori names when  
over there and, while there are many species with several names (e.g.  
Hihi), it seems to work quite well.
If nothing else it provides yet another angle for kiwi birders to  
sledge us, or perhaps that is just my pronunciation, or lack thereof!
Cheers,
Paul





On 24/11/2009, at 3:16 PM,  wrote:

> Wombats are still badgers in parts of Tasmania!
>
> Excellent suggestion Mark.   There will be problems with the  
> plethora of
> Aboriginal languages (and the difficulty English speakers have  
> pronouncing
> Aboriginal words) and differences between their taxonomy and that of
> Western science but and it shouldn't be too great a task.
>
> Consider the following:
>
> Western Kulin names (from southwestern Victoria)
>
> Maerii - Gang Gang Cockatoo
> Pirtuup - Sandpiper
> Wilann - Black Cockatoo [probably Red-tailed]
>
> Eastern Kulin names (from central Victoria)
>
> Kruk-wor-rum - Snipe
> Dulum - Black Duck
> Bath-mum - Wood Duck
> Uu-gup - King Parrot
> Barrawarn - Australian Magpie
> Tee-yung - Rose Robin
> Nup-nup or Bik-mum - [Magpie] goose
>
> Some of the words may not use the linguistically preferred spelling  
> but you
> should get an idea of what could work.
>
> Regards
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
>
>             Mark Carter
>             <markthomascarter
>              
> @yahoo.co.uk>                                              To
>             Sent by:                  
>             birding-aus- 
> bounc                                          cc
>             
>                                                                    
> Subject
>                                       Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re  
> 'Jabiru'
>             24/11/09 01:55 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I agree with Philip Veerman's post- the confusing 'Jabiru' is just  
> the tip
> of the iceberg when it comes to Australian bird common names. I think
> settlers did Australian birds a great diservice when they set about  
> naming
> them after the vaguely similar species of elsewhere but it was
> understandible. What I don't understand is the way 21st century  
> ornithology
> persists with these clumsy confusing labels. A Red-capped Robin is  
> not a
> robin in much the same way than a Koala bear is not a bear.  
> Mammologists
> have gotten over this dodgy inheritance years ago- native cats are now
> almost universally renamed quolls, marsupial mice are now dunnarts (or
> antichinus or psuedo antichinus or...) and porcupines are now  
> echidnas.
> Australian birds such as shrike-thrushes, woodswallows, wrens, chats,
> magpies, babblers and treecreepers are intrinsically awesome and don't
> deserve to be encumbered by these clumsy, 2nd hand, confusing and  
> often
> dreadful misnomers (shrike-thrush particularly makes me cringe).  
> These is a
> vast and rich source of authentic names in the many Aboriginal  
> languages of
> our continent- is it outragous to suggest we consider this?
>
> Mark Carter
> Alice Springs
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:15:24 +1100
> From: "Philip Veerman" <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Re 'Jabiru'
> To: "'Tony Russell'" <>
> Cc: "Birding-aus \(E-mail\)" <>
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"
>
> Surely their proper name is the Australian Black Satin-necked non- 
> jabiru
> Stork. (joke)
>
> Why doesn't some book author take the initiative to rename some bird
> groups to simpler things, like rename the Cuckoo-shrikes as Cush e.g.
> "Black-faced Cush" and likewise invent other new names, so we can
> dispense with all those silly names like "Cuckoo-shrike" (not a joke).
> After all, names are just labels, why not have distinctive ones that
> don't give wrong impressions.
>
> Philip Veerman
> 24 Castley Circuit
> Kambah  ACT  2902
>
> 02 - 62314041
>
>
>
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Paul G. McDonald

Department of Brain, Behaviour and Evolution
Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW 2109
Australia

Ph: +612 9850 9232 Fax: +612 9850 9231


http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/~paul/
http://publicationslist.org/paul.mcdonald
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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