Prothonotary Warbler as you might expect causes quite a few reading/pronunciation problems!
Many eponymous names also are problematical, especially if there's no Anglicised popular pronunciation - for example try Przewalski's Finch, Redstart, Rock Partridge, Thrush, Antpitta, Nuthatch, Parrotbill and Horse... (for most of these, see 'The Eponym Dictionary of Birds', Beolens et al, just published.
If you don't know the pronunciation rules of the original language, you have to make a guess - now Güldenstädt of Güldenstädt’s Redstart fame, has a German name, but since he was a Baltic German in what then was part of the Russian Empire, it's not easy to ascertain if his name was pronounced in the standard German way, which is difficult even in phonetic English. The first syllable vowel sound is halfway between 'oo' and 'ee', usually achieved on my part by sticking my chin forward to 'squeeze' the 'oo' sound!
For those people who are unfortunate enough to suffer from any form of word blindness, or who are functionally illiterate (The Literacy Trust puts it at 16% in England, the World Literacy Foundation says 20%), bird name pronunciation must be full of pitfalls, and scientific names must be almost terrifying, but given that context, mispronounced names are still largely a source of innocent amusement. This thread could run and run.
MJB
