Words On Birds by Steve Grinley
Colorful descriptions for common birds
October 6, 2007
Steve Grinley
A while back, I shared with you a list of venereal terms for groups of birds such as a “charm of goldfinches” or a “murder of crows.” Recently, on one of the birding listserves, some lists of fun descriptions have appeared. I’ve selected my favorites to share with you today:
A hood of robins
A litter of catbirds
A ridicule of mockingbirds
A nebula of starlings
An alphabet of jays
A maniac of ravens
A garagesale of juncos
A w.c. fielding of chickadees
A frankincense of murres
A suite of bitterns
An album of rock wrens
An outfield of flycatchers
A tankful of petrels
A Ulysses of brant
An 8×10 of glossy ibis.
A shishkebab of skuas
A coronation of emperor geese
A drift of snow geese
A timber of wood ducks
A wave of surf scoters
An asylum of common loons
A brass of horned grebes
A triangle of Bermuda petrels
A tart of American bitterns
An illusion of merlins
An hilarity of laughing gulls
An applause of clapper rails
A dune of sandhill cranes
A haze of purple sandpipers
A ladle of spoonbills
A mint of Franklin’s gulls
A glimmer of Northern flickers
An oxymoron of greater pewees
A tickle of ivory gulls
A dagwood of Sandwich terns
A workshop of elf owls
A pilot of palm warblers
A range of ovenbirds
A tinkling of Bell’s vireos
A hangover of red-eyed vireos
A derby of Kentucky warblers
A fifth of wild turkeys
A tanning of bronzed cowbirds
A lamentation of mourning warblers
A lettering of scarlet tanagers
An oxidation of rusty blackbirds
A chain of bobolinks
And my personal favorite: A paddling of red-tails.
Steve Grinley
Bird Watcher’s Supply & Gift
Route 1 Traffic Circle
194 Route 1
Newburyport, MA 01950
BirdWSG@Comcast.net
978-462-0775
www.birdwatcherssupplyandgift.com
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