Let’s talk about sex, shall we? No not human sex, on which I would scarcely consider myself an expert, but bird sex. Actually not bird sex as such, but rather the sex of birds. Curiosity thoroughly aroused1, I’ll explain myself. The sex of birds intersects neatly with another of my favourite topics: the names of…Continue readingBird Names: Sex Edition?
Tag: bird names
Sometimes I find myself engaged in conversation with someone, and I think “this is a person who will be interested in my thoughts about the words we use to describe colours in birds”. I have never once been correct. You can’t blame a guy for trying though. Surely I’ll get it right one day. Won’t…Continue readingThe Colours of the Birds of the World
Do you ever wonder who’s in charge of all the names of all the birds? I didn’t think so. Most people go through their entire lives happily saying bird names, never considering who’s responsible for the sounds coming out of their mouths. You’d imagine, if you stopped to think about it, that somewhere there’s a…Continue readingNew Bird Checklist, Who Dis?
Wait, don’t go! This is not a post about eponymous bird names. I’ve done that before, and I’ll surely do it again, but not today. All the recent discussion about birds named after people has been great and it looks like, with some specifics still to be hashed out, we are roughly headed in the…Continue readingA Definitive List of Bird Names that Also Suck
A few days ago I wrote some things about the recent AOS decision to change bird names. It was a struggle, because the situation is big and complex and difficult to distill down to a few digestible paragraphs. I tried my best, but I never know when to stop talking, so here are five additional…Continue readingFive More Random Thoughts About the AOS Changing Bird Names
As usual it’s been a minute since I’ve made internet words, but you had to know that if anything was going to bring me out of my hiatus it would be last Wednesday’s shock announcement by the American Ornithological Society that they’re poised to change a whole bunch of bird names. My three favourite things…Continue readingBird Names Are Changing. Here’s Why You Should Care (and Why You Shouldn’t).