The Colours of the Birds of the World

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

New Bird Checklist, Who Dis?

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?

A Definitive List of Bird Names that Also Suck

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