Yes but does it matter a lot? It is to aid communication for those who do
not know automatically that tern and the others you mention already are bird
names. Some of the names are too short and obscure without a qualifier. Why
should anyone who doesn't happen to know, think official names like
Redthroat is a bird or Luzon Bleeding Heart, that isn't even given a useful
name like Luzon Bleeding Heart Pigeon. But it would surely be hypocrisy to
be too critical on this as we also use "bird" as part of many official
names: lyrebird, butcherbird, bowerbird, antbird, grassbird, bird of
paradise, etc. What is really strange is that the same situation is used
for so many frogs and fish (maybe more than not), but as far as I know, it
is never used for any mammal. We never get Red Fox Mammal, Phascogale
Mammal, Echidna Mammal, Blue Whale Mammal, etc.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Neil Cheshire
Sent: Wednesday, 24 September 2014 7:41 PM
To:
Subject: Bird tautology
Has anyone else noticed the annoying trend of adding the word 'bird' or
'birds' to common bird names such as tern, cormorant etc. This evening's
introduction to 'Wild Britain' mentions "nightjar birds" I have even seen it
in a circular from the South Australian Dept. of Environment and Natural
Resources which referred to "little tern birds". There appears to be
cultural cringe/PC that does not want to offend or bewilder anyone who may
be unaware that a tern, cormorant etc is in fact a bird! End of rant
Neil Cheshire
Encounter Bay,
South Australia.
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