I was recently reading a rather vitriolic comment thread on a blog post related to carbon dioxide and global warming and came across references to the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which people who made what seemed to me like outlandish statements about climatology while admitting that they had no formal training in any related field were [...]

While green is rather common color in avian plumage, it rarely attains the flamboyance of a parrot’s chartreuse or the emerald of a hummingbird. More birds are adorned in more practical, which is to say muted tones. One rather colorful name for a stock yet sober shade of green is OLIVACEOUS. Olivaceous means just what [...]

There’s a reason why the name of Linnaeus is still spoken with respect more than two centuries after his death. Giving organisms standard names allowed precise communication across cultures and languages. In the birding community, standardization of common names has followed, and is an on-going project (with mixed success.) This is obviously very useful as [...]

Last week I discussed the somewhat dated kakariki taxonomy used in the recent edition of the Parrots of the World by Jospeh Forshaw. My second grumble about these small parakeets and this book is not actually particularly restricted to the book, it’s actually a ubiquitous problem related to the name of one of the species [...]

The concept that bird watchers can accurately identify birds by their general aspect and behavior rather than by any specific field marks has not only long been accepted, but is actually gaining greater popularity every year. One might debate just how useful or specific this methodology may be, but all agree on its overall utility. [...]

When a birder sees a really, really, good bird and another birder doesn’t see the bird, the first birder will often “grip off” the other birder.  This is a process whereby the birder who failed to see the bird is reminded of having missed the bird in any way imaginable.  For example, let’s say that [...]

A bird’s crop is an expandable “muscular pouch near the gullet or throat.”  It is used to store excess food for later digestion.  Essentially an extension of the esophagus, the crop can expand a rather remarkable amount, to the point where it can make a small-headed, long-necked bird look like a big-headed, short-necked bird (because [...]

Birds seem to be popping up everywhere in trivia these days. Just yesterday, I was listening to a quiz show on NPR when the host asked a really thought-provoking question: does it take birds longer to fly south for winter or return north in spring? Consider the answer and, if you’d like, share your guess [...]

You don’t need to be a birder to know that most birds above the equator fly from temperate northern climes to more tropical southern locales for the winter. Changes in light, temperature, and food availability trigger the instinct to migrate, an urge so powerful that only a really well-stocked backyard bird feeder can override it. [...]

A hybrid thrush has been found on Stratton Mountain in Vermont.  The bird, which was determined through DNA analysis to be part Bicknell’s Thrush and part Veery, was found by researchers with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies who were studying Bicknell’s Thrush on the breeding grounds.  It was first noticed by a researcher who heard [...]

As long as the ivory-bill’s existence remains ambiguous, North America’s reigning woodpecker must be the Pileated Woodpecker.  This hulking beauty, black and white with a preposterously scarlet crest, is a most pleasing presence across much of the United States and Canada. That crazy coiffure along with its whinnying laugh betray this bird’s claim to fame [...]

An organization called the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) has been working since 1991 on the challenging task of creating a standard set of the English names of the birds of the world. Their assertion is that names based on logical rules and consensus should aid clear and crisp communication among global stakeholders such as birders, [...]

Throughout history, innumerable adventurers, merchants, rum runners, and real estate moguls have been entranced by the inexorable pull of the sea. The entrancing tidal influence has infected quite a few birders in that time as well. The attraction is not immediately obvious. After all, where are the trees, tall grass, and other trappings of avian [...]

Read enough birding trip reports on this or any other site and you’re sure to hear about peeps. Birders run into peeps all the time, so you can be sure the term does not refer to those sickly-sweet marshmallow chicks that only spring up around Easter. Nor is this term restricted to teens talking about [...]

As far as color terms go, vermilion is a winner, reeking of exoticism and antiquity. As fine as this color feels tripping off the tongue, it’s even easier on the eyes. Vermilion refers to a specific shade of reddish-orange washed with ashy gray, reminiscent of an overripe beefsteak tomato. This is the pigment derived from [...]

Although the title to this post may be incomprehensible (think Brylcreem,) its topic is straightforward. For birders, the word ‘dabble’ usually calls to mind ducks. Why ducks? Because there are two kinds of ducks in this world: the dabbling kind and the diving kind. Dabbling ducks are not, as the name might imply, the dilettantes [...]

Ah, emerald! That brilliant beryl, birthstone of May and the most valuable gemstone, by weight, in the world, shines with a green so pure and bright that only the most verdant lands dare claim its name. The color emerald looks as fine in a feather as it does in a jewel. In Central and South [...]

Ah rose, the color of swanky gardens and rampant optimism. Rose by any other name also appears prominently in the plumage of some very perky birds. Rosy, a proper adjectival form of the word, describes a selection of finches from the genus Leucosticte. Of the four rosy finches, lovely earth-toned birds anointed with stark pink [...]

The idiomatic expression “for the birds“ is common enough to crop up in everyday conversation. One hears it all the time: “This pizza is for the birds!” “The Mets are for the birds!” “Lying, fascist, ideologue politicians are for the birds!” You probably get the point. This phrase is obviously negative in connotation, meaning objectionable [...]

Readers of my recent disquisition of the color buff may have been surprised to learn of so many terms for yellow-brown in the English language. Equally astonishing, you may agree, is the abundance of options for describing brownish-yellow. But linguistic specificity allows for clarity of expression. Why say “happy” when you’re actually feeling blissful, blithe, [...]