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Pirate name: Poncy Henry Goodfellow
Birding Slang
As with almost any hobby, birding has developed its own peculiar argot which can mystify the uninitiated. Hopefully this section will make things clearer. (Not that you absolutely have to know any of it.)
Please add any that are not listed!
Tick - a species new to any of the various lists you might keep, as in 'year tick' (new for the year; you get lots of these in January), 'British tick' (you've seen it abroad, but not in Britain), trip tick (new for whatever excursion you're currently undertaking), garden tick, shed roof tick etc. Not that you have to keep any lists at all, but most birders do.
Lifer - a species that you have never seen before in your life anywhere in the world ever. In other words, a tick for your life list.
Megatick - an extremely good tick, by virtue of the bird being rare and probably either very colourful or awesomely huge to boot. A good tick not just for you, but for any birder, even the most jaded of veterans.
Crippler - a megatick, which leaves you emotionally crippled by its beauty/size/whatever as well as its extreme rarity. (Not all megaticks are cripplers, since a lot of very rare birds are actually small and grotty with no potential to cripple whatsoever).
Sibe - a bird that normally lives in Siberia but has got lost somewhere along the way and pitched down in some grotty housing estate. Usually small and uncolourful, but rare.
Sum plum - summer plumage. A lot of rare (and not-so-rare) birds are only likely to be seen in Britain on their autumn migration, by which time they're normally in their dowdy winter plumage, so getting one in sum plum is a bonus.
LBJ - a Little Brown Job. An amazing number of birds are small and brown or some other unexciting colour, even in sum plum, and they all look almost exactly like at least a dozen other species. Female or immature birds are quite likely to be LBJs, and identification can be tricky even for the experts.
BOP - Bird of Prey. Although many BOPs are big and impressive, they aren't always readily identifiable, so this generic acronym can come in handy. Many BOPs never get identified at all.
Twitcher - obsessive list-keeping birder who goes after rare birds found by other people. Twitchers might cross half the country overnight to see one tatty brown thing sitting half a mile away on a bleak expanse of mud. Twitchers invariably have huge lists that only impress other twitchers. Surprisingly, they are not always good at identifying birds, because they leave all that tedious business to other birders. From twitcher you also get the verb to twitch, to go out with the deliberate intent of seeing one particular rarity you've been told about, and you don't need to be a dedicated twitcher to do this.
Dude - a casual birder who prefers pleasant surroundings and nice weather. Usually satisfied with quite common birds that would drive a twitcher insane with boredom. Dudes tend not to be too hot on identification either, but on the plus side they keenly enjoy the birds they do see and not just as ticks on a list. Nothing to be ashamed of. (However, there are some irritating dudes who think they know far more than they do and run up lots of stringy records (see 'stringy')).
Birder - anyone inbetween obvious twitcher and obvious dude. Keen but not obsessive, well genned up on identification and stuff, and well acquainted with the local hot birding sites. Birders find the rarities for twitchers, and are generally happy to help dudes with the LBJs (qv).
Dip out on - fail to see a particular bird, usually one you've gone out to twitch. It was there, but you dipped out on it. The bird in question may then be referred to as a dip.
Grip someone off - if you dip out on a bird and someone else doesn't, then he or she has gripped you off. This usually happens through the vagaries of chance (you turned up too late, went to the wrong turnip field, whatever) but the intense rivalry of twitchers can lead to them intentionally gripping each other off, through deliberate misinformation, suppression of information, or even scaring the bird away before anyone else can see it. Petty, maybe, but it has been known to happen. (Though knowledge of some rarities is suppressed for more practical reasons, such as to keep armies of twitchers away from private land or the breeding sites of vulnerable species.)
Stringy - suspect identification. A claimed rarity that turns out be something common. Birders that do this on a regular basis get tagged as stringers. Sometimes this derogative label is justified, other times it isn't.
Seawatching - sitting for hours and hours on a windswept clifftop, beach or harbour wall, eyes glued to the sea in the hope that something interesting will fly by eventually. Usually tedious beyond description, but the only way to see some of the more ocean-bound species away from their inaccessible breeding grounds. It helps to have a good telescope, since the birds might be miles away (literally, sometimes), and someone to talk to is a good idea unless you really want to go mad. The only rule of thumb with seawatching is that it only stands to be worthwhile if the weather is truly foul (but foul weather doesn't necessarily mean productive seawatching). Strictly for the dedicated.
Vis mig - visible migration. Most birds migrate to some extent, and it's one of the most attractive things about birding that almost anything can turn up almost anywhere. Migrants are often found after they've pitched down overnight, but you can also see them actually on the move. There's something rather exciting about this overtly purposeful movement, even when the birds in question are really quite common. It's not every day you see a woodpecker bounding over the waves or a big BOP (qv) flapping over the local shopping centre.
Mike
As with almost any hobby, birding has developed its own peculiar argot which can mystify the uninitiated. Hopefully this section will make things clearer. (Not that you absolutely have to know any of it.)
Please add any that are not listed!
Tick - a species new to any of the various lists you might keep, as in 'year tick' (new for the year; you get lots of these in January), 'British tick' (you've seen it abroad, but not in Britain), trip tick (new for whatever excursion you're currently undertaking), garden tick, shed roof tick etc. Not that you have to keep any lists at all, but most birders do.
Lifer - a species that you have never seen before in your life anywhere in the world ever. In other words, a tick for your life list.
Megatick - an extremely good tick, by virtue of the bird being rare and probably either very colourful or awesomely huge to boot. A good tick not just for you, but for any birder, even the most jaded of veterans.
Crippler - a megatick, which leaves you emotionally crippled by its beauty/size/whatever as well as its extreme rarity. (Not all megaticks are cripplers, since a lot of very rare birds are actually small and grotty with no potential to cripple whatsoever).
Sibe - a bird that normally lives in Siberia but has got lost somewhere along the way and pitched down in some grotty housing estate. Usually small and uncolourful, but rare.
Sum plum - summer plumage. A lot of rare (and not-so-rare) birds are only likely to be seen in Britain on their autumn migration, by which time they're normally in their dowdy winter plumage, so getting one in sum plum is a bonus.
LBJ - a Little Brown Job. An amazing number of birds are small and brown or some other unexciting colour, even in sum plum, and they all look almost exactly like at least a dozen other species. Female or immature birds are quite likely to be LBJs, and identification can be tricky even for the experts.
BOP - Bird of Prey. Although many BOPs are big and impressive, they aren't always readily identifiable, so this generic acronym can come in handy. Many BOPs never get identified at all.
Twitcher - obsessive list-keeping birder who goes after rare birds found by other people. Twitchers might cross half the country overnight to see one tatty brown thing sitting half a mile away on a bleak expanse of mud. Twitchers invariably have huge lists that only impress other twitchers. Surprisingly, they are not always good at identifying birds, because they leave all that tedious business to other birders. From twitcher you also get the verb to twitch, to go out with the deliberate intent of seeing one particular rarity you've been told about, and you don't need to be a dedicated twitcher to do this.
Dude - a casual birder who prefers pleasant surroundings and nice weather. Usually satisfied with quite common birds that would drive a twitcher insane with boredom. Dudes tend not to be too hot on identification either, but on the plus side they keenly enjoy the birds they do see and not just as ticks on a list. Nothing to be ashamed of. (However, there are some irritating dudes who think they know far more than they do and run up lots of stringy records (see 'stringy')).
Birder - anyone inbetween obvious twitcher and obvious dude. Keen but not obsessive, well genned up on identification and stuff, and well acquainted with the local hot birding sites. Birders find the rarities for twitchers, and are generally happy to help dudes with the LBJs (qv).
Dip out on - fail to see a particular bird, usually one you've gone out to twitch. It was there, but you dipped out on it. The bird in question may then be referred to as a dip.
Grip someone off - if you dip out on a bird and someone else doesn't, then he or she has gripped you off. This usually happens through the vagaries of chance (you turned up too late, went to the wrong turnip field, whatever) but the intense rivalry of twitchers can lead to them intentionally gripping each other off, through deliberate misinformation, suppression of information, or even scaring the bird away before anyone else can see it. Petty, maybe, but it has been known to happen. (Though knowledge of some rarities is suppressed for more practical reasons, such as to keep armies of twitchers away from private land or the breeding sites of vulnerable species.)
Stringy - suspect identification. A claimed rarity that turns out be something common. Birders that do this on a regular basis get tagged as stringers. Sometimes this derogative label is justified, other times it isn't.
Seawatching - sitting for hours and hours on a windswept clifftop, beach or harbour wall, eyes glued to the sea in the hope that something interesting will fly by eventually. Usually tedious beyond description, but the only way to see some of the more ocean-bound species away from their inaccessible breeding grounds. It helps to have a good telescope, since the birds might be miles away (literally, sometimes), and someone to talk to is a good idea unless you really want to go mad. The only rule of thumb with seawatching is that it only stands to be worthwhile if the weather is truly foul (but foul weather doesn't necessarily mean productive seawatching). Strictly for the dedicated.
Vis mig - visible migration. Most birds migrate to some extent, and it's one of the most attractive things about birding that almost anything can turn up almost anywhere. Migrants are often found after they've pitched down overnight, but you can also see them actually on the move. There's something rather exciting about this overtly purposeful movement, even when the birds in question are really quite common. It's not every day you see a woodpecker bounding over the waves or a big BOP (qv) flapping over the local shopping centre.
Mike
