Honey Buzzard ... or Honey-buzzard? (1 Viewer)

Carnifex said:

Ok, this is leading the thread away from the topic, but the name 'Lammergeier' is derived from German, whereas the German name is Bartgeier = Bearded Vulture. Don't like the name Lammergeier anyway, same is true for Killer Whale instead of Orca. Lammergeier (lamb vulture) creates the impression of a dangerous bird of prey, that kills sweet little lambs and should better be shot or poisoned...

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I love sweet lambs, lightly grilled on a skewer after a dip in herbs and spices.

Please don't shoot me.

I'd prefer the name Pernine hawk.

steve.

Or a third option.....

Honeybuzzard

But if 'buzzard' will be a taxonomic term with an exclusive use, shouldn't we then accordingly have Egypt-vultures, as they are no true vultures? And the New World vultures will be like Turkey-vultures? It's getting nasty... Don't think such a strict nomenclature should be applied.

Nutcracker said:

Nothing wrong with unhyphenated 3-part names! That's actually where Stace makes some awful mistakes.

Lady Amherst's Pheasant
Great Northern Diver
Great Crested Grebe
Lesser Spotted Eagle
American Golden Plover
Pacific Golden Plover
Lesser Crested Tern
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Great Grey Shrike
Cape May Warbler

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I agree that they are unavoidable in most of the examples given above, but they don't look very elegant; although to my mind the names composed of a two-part title (Lady Amherst's Pheasant and Cape May Warbler) look the most 'natural'.
Clements avoids GN Diver and GG Shrike with Common Loon and Northern Shrike, it can't avoid Southern Gray Shrike (sic), Great/ Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers or Lesser Crested Tern. And of course (unlike with honey-buzzard) it wouldn't make taxonomic sense to have spotted-woodpeckers or crested-terns - although Clements does hyphenate golden-plovers.
I'm not sure what 'awful mistakes' Stace makes with wildflower names, he purports to follow Dony, Jury & Perring's English Names of Wild Flowers, which I thought was the standard in UK and Ireland?

Nutcracker said:

In Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, etc., it's name translates to "waspbuzzard" (always 1 word). Better description of its diet!

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In Finland we call it mehiläishaukka, what translates to "beehawk". (Common Buzzard is here hiirihaukka, and that translates to "mousehawk", so in that sense the naming does not differ from the English-language way, and the name of the bird can not infer its relative relationships.)