Worlds Funniest Bird Name? (12 Viewers)

[delia todd]

Where did Brubru come from? That one keeps making me smile.

Quite an attractive bird too.

D

 

[Edward]

Where did Brubru come from? That one keeps making me smile.

Quite an attractive bird too.

D

Presumably its call.

 

[gambirder]

I've always thought Montezuma's Oropendola has a certain silly ring about it...

 

[ovenbird43]

Haha, what a great thread! Here are my contributions:

Biscutate Swift - say what now?
Rufous Casiornis- I always interpret this in spanish or spanish-latin to mean "almost bird"
Bright-rumped Attila
Shear-tailed Gray Tyrant
Henna-hooded Foliage-Gleaner
Sepia-capped Flycatcher (I love the use of obscure color names)
peppershrikes
Burnished-buff Tanager
Black-goggled Tanager (awesome!)
Carunculated Caracara
Carbonated Sierra-Finch (oh, is it a bubbly?)
Booted Raquet-tail
Shining Sunbeam
Velvet-purple Coronet (and other coronets)
Metailtails
Strange-tailed Tyrant
Cock-tailed Tyrant (haha)
pewees
Jocotoco antpitta

Endless! Not to mention all the weird furnariid names.... xenops, treehunter, treerunner, spinetail, softtail, tit-spinetail, brushrunner, barbtail, and so on.

 

[Pam_m]

A couple of old names for Great Crested Grebe were Arsefoot and Car Goose!!!

 

[DorsetDude]

Norwegian Blue always makes me smile :-O

"Excuse me Miss"

etc

 

[Tero]

Hoopoe
Kookaburra
Finnish fieldfare:räkättirastas

 

[Goyter]

A spin-off of this thread could be those bird names that exactly fit the bird in question ie does exactly what it says on the tin! Trouble is I cant think of one at the moment but am sure there are some out there.Get thinking.....

 

[aikidoka]

The German for chiffchaff, Zip Zap, always raises a smile. Has an electrical quality about it methinks.

Si.

Is it not 'Zilpzalp'? Still funny, whichever it is

 

[Goyter]

A spin-off of this thread could be those bird names that exactly fit the bird in question ie does exactly what it says on the tin! Trouble is I cant think of one at the moment but am sure there are some out there.Get thinking.....

Just been watching a Treecreeper in the garden - that fits!!

 

[fugl]

A spin-off of this thread could be those bird names that exactly fit the bird in question ie does exactly what it says on the tin! Trouble is I cant think of one at the moment but am sure there are some out there.Get thinking.....

Question: What's that black bird with a yellow head called?
Answer: Yellow-headed Blackbird

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fugl/4726397553/

 

[Monahawk]

Is it not 'Zilpzalp'? Still funny, whichever it is

I believe now you could be right, however I remember a German friend telling me some bird names in his native tongue and he certainly said Zip Zap for a Chiffer. Yup! Zilp Zalp is quite funny but lacks the electrical quality of Zip Zap.

Si.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

some crackers from ovenbird 43. Reminds me of how wonderful so many hummer names are...I love Shining Sunbeam too.....and Tourmaline Sunangel. Has anyone said Chaco Chachalaca yet? What about Zamboanga Bulbul?

Is there anyone out there who plans their trips specifically to see birds with silly names, or at least puts in that extra effort to try and do so. Would you for example walk 10k up a muddy trail for a Brownish Flycatcher or 10k up one for a Festive Coquette?

 

[delia todd]

Presumably its call.

Doh! The clue'll be in the pronunciation I suppose... not "brubru" but "brr brr":-O

D

 

[gandytron]

Miniature Tit Babbler
Blackcock
Wattled Crane (scientific name is Bugeranus.......!)

 

[Espen]

bogeybird

 

[dalat]

Yes it is Zilpzalp, but spoken sounds a bit like Zipzap...

Another nice one in German is Trottellumme = Common Guillemot. "Trottellumme" literally translated means "Idiot Guillemot"

 

[Monahawk]

Yes it is Zilpzalp, but spoken sounds a bit like Zipzap...

Another nice one in German is Trottellumme = Common Guillemot. "Trottellumme" literally translated means "Idiot Guillemot"

Thanks for tidying up that small issue Dalat. I knew I didn't hear my German friend wrong.

Si.

 

[ariban]

funniest

On a Jamaica Bay bird walk in June, the newbie birders could justt not get their tongues around the name of the vagrant we were watching; "Frivolous Wittling-duck", "Ferruginous Waddling-duck". Great find, but greater names!

Abbreviations always get me wierd looks from non-birders. "O look, a sharpie!" (Everyone starts looking for a dropped marker as the accipiter rockets away).

Once, at my old school, I found a dead bird outside with my class. And naturally, everyone wants to know what it is (I was and am the bird man in all of my schools) And if there was a bird name that you could recite that would make you look like more of a nerd then you are, it's this. "It's a yellow-bellied sapsucker!"

Ok, funny bird names:
Violet-crowned woodnymph
Kookaburra (I love that name)
Pigeon Guillemot
Ouzel (awesome name)
Oldsquaw (I'm sorry, vintage stuff is great!)
Southern Bentbill (What does that look like?)
White-fronted Falconet (so small, so cute, and "falconet" sounds great)
Pacific Baza

The Laughing Jack Ass would take the cake IMO!

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

White-headed Buffalo-weaver - does it have a white head or does it weave white-headed buffaloes?

Vivid niltava
Tinkling cisticola