why coal tit was named "coal" tit? (2 Viewers)

[perlin]

may not interest you,but when I see the back of the coal tits head,it reminds me of a badger markins,so I have called the bird for years,Badger bird.

 

[Toonippysweetie]

In the early days of mining, these small birds were used by miners to extract peanut sized pieces of coal from very narrow seams - hence the name 'Coal Tit'.

Possibly.

What an absolute load of rubbish!

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

What an absolute load of rubbish!

You could be right.

 

[dantheman]

I think they may be referring to how the Junko got it's name ... (another small passerine, from N America)

 

[wheatearlp]

Do you drive an automobile or a car? Do you bake in a range? Or in an oven / a stove and the word range means for you reception of a mobile signal? Language changes and much faster than in 50 years.

Bird names evolve too, except that birders talk remains a jargon and the official names exist as a sort of a living fossil language. Which is double nonsense, because biology developed scientific names especially for the purpose of stability and common understanding. In other areas of life, such jargon or unofficial language simply becomes the official language, and the old names become archaic.

So, what would you now call a Coal Tit? Is there a more up-to-date name on everyone's lips just waiting to be be subsumed into the official naming structure?

 

[wheatearlp]

What an absolute load of rubbish!

But amusing rubbish nonetheless 😉

 

[Harrybongo]

You could be right.

............. 😂

 

[Jo Morton]

Ummm... sorry.... not to complicate this even more...

But a english Coal Tit is a Parus ater , which germans refer to as Tannenmeise, whereas a german Kohlmeise is a Parus major, a Great Tit in english...

Aha...Latin terminology comes in useful for garden plants as well for settling arguments - sorry, discussions

 

[James Lowther]

What an absolute load of rubbish!

This spectacular missing of a joke is the only contribution toonippysweetie has made to the forum to date!
That’s quite an achievement!
James

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

This spectacular missing of a joke is the only contribution toonippysweetie has made to the forum to date!
That’s quite an achievement!
James

I like to think they registered purely to make this point.