Birding parlance (1 Viewer)

christineredgate

Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th

• Oct 6, 2004

• #61

I can now ask a question I have been dying to ask,but felt a bit daft,thinking I ought to know the name.In some of the photos ,esp from the USA,the word "Grackles" are given to certain birds,can someone translate please.

 

D

David Bryant

Registered User

• Oct 6, 2004

• #62

Just out of interest! I was a two-ringer in the Navy before I was a teacher (or birder!) Way back then, 'dip out' and 'dip in' were common parlance, well before birders adopted them! 'Dip in' was usually followed by the advice to 'fill yer boots'!

 

Mike Pennington

Registered Member

• Oct 6, 2004

• #63

Bluetail said:

Far be it for me to disagree. However, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary ventures the following:

[Norw. bunksi, f. bunke dumpy body f. ON bunki heap (cf. Norw. bunke fat woman).]

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Yes, I was going to include this. I think this etymology was suggested by Jakobsen who was a brilliant philologist, but not a birder.

If you were naming Great Skua, would you call it dumpy? It's certainly not the first thing that strikes me and several native Shetlanders think along the same lines.

Hence, the etymology is uncertain IMHO.

 

samuel walker

It's OK to be a little blue........

• Oct 12, 2004

• #64

The Size Up

Michael Frankis said:

Hi Simondix,
All the pipits can be abbreviated like that . .
Mipit, Tripit, Ropit, Wapit, Tawpit, Olipit, Artypit (R-T), Dickypit (Richard's), Blypit, Peckypit (Pechora), etc

Hi Alan,
Apart from the official Sparrow, I've never heard of anything other than Spuggy/Spuggie in this area (Northumbs)

Hi Surreybirder & Kevin,
Yes, Edward is right - Tystie, Bonxie, Erne are all Old Norse Viking bird names, not Gaelic.

Michael

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We have a local birding woman who has a peculiar affection for her perceived correct pronunciation of bird names.I discovered this while meeting her while keeping a watch on Lake Erie.Without barely a how do you do.she asked if I had seen any Jaegers.I replied that I hadn't seen any Yeagers to which she quickly corrected me to the emphasised J as in Jayger.Not letting it rest she moved on to ask me how I pronounced the name of our large black,white and red woodpecker.Ah,your referring to the pieleated.No she corrected the PillE ated.This progressed into gos hawkvs goshhawk plus a few more.I was sized up at that moment.When I see her these days I move down the patch..I'm no saint if I observe someone looking at a red bellied woodpecker and commenting on it being a redheaded I sometimes speak up unless it's a parent telling that to a kid.If a redbelly needs to be a redhead for a day It's not a critical issue.
Sam

 

christineredgate

Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th

• Oct 12, 2004

• #65

So,please can anyone tell me what a "Grackle" is?.

 

Gavin Haig

Well-known member

• Oct 12, 2004

• #66

christineredgate said:

So,please can anyone tell me what a "Grackle" is?.

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Grackles are in the New World family of American Orioles - eg. Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) - you'll find them in an American fieldguide..........

Gavin

 

Chris D

Well-known member

• Oct 12, 2004

• #67

Grackles are loud and bizzare and beautiful. Underappreciated, I think. They're as close as we come to some really strange and stunning Icterids further south. Watching a group of Boat Tails or Great Tails with all their clicks, grunts, shrieks, and tail displays as you eat your lunch on a bench is something I wish for any first time visitor to the colonies. Irridescent and full of character. They'll keep you up all night if you've picked the wrong spot to camp along the lower Colorado river. They strut....

 

B

black52bird

Registered User

• Oct 13, 2004

• #68

Grackles: etymology

Chris D said:

Grackles are loud and bizzare and beautiful. Underappreciated, I think. They're as close as we come to some really strange and stunning Icterids further south. Watching a group of Boat Tails or Great Tails with all their clicks, grunts, shrieks, and tail displays as you eat your lunch on a bench is something I wish for any first time visitor to the colonies. Irridescent and full of character. They'll keep you up all night if you've picked the wrong spot to camp along the lower Colorado river. They strut....

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I think our friend was asking about the etymology of the name "Grackle" rather than what they are.
So here goes:
the name Grackle is an anglicisation of the Latin name for certain members of the starling family, such as Gracula religiosa (the Indian Grackle or Hill Mynah). Gracula itself as a Latin ornithological name comes from the original Latin graculus, which meant Jackdaw.
Very best
David

 

bob the birder

Well-known member

• Oct 13, 2004

• #69

bearded tit? bearded reedling? i'm afraid it will always be bearded tit to me.

 

christineredgate

Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th

• Oct 13, 2004

• #70

black52bird said:

I think our friend was asking about the etymology of the name "Grackle" rather than what they are.
So here goes:
the name Grackle is an anglicisation of the Latin name for certain members of the starling family, such as Gracula religiosa (the Indian Grackle or Hill Mynah). Gracula itself as a Latin ornithological name comes from the original Latin graculus, which meant Jackdaw.
Very best
David

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David,thankyou.So Grackles are akin to our Starlings,noisy.squabbling,and very entertaining

 

deboo

.............

• Oct 13, 2004

• #71

I don't like the terms:
"gripped" and "gripping"...
..they just seem odd,and have never been in my vocabulary.
Whenever I hear them...usually at some minor 'twitch',
they strike me as unusual and rather twee words...dunno,strange really!
I don't much care for 'twitch' either!!..

Dave.

P.S. Bostin'...now that's better!!

 

E

Edward woodwood

Member

• Oct 13, 2004

• #72

i really like 'porn star'

as in the Bluetail was really 'porn starring' it - i.e. giving exceptionally good views!

i remember another thread in a similar vein with more stuff on it though....?

 

E

Edward woodwood

Member

• Oct 13, 2004

• #73

it's in the birding slang thread

some good stuff there

 

deboo

.............

• Oct 13, 2004

• #74

Or,
That's a 'channel 5' area of the country...under watched.
or,
A 'Sky News special correspondent' bird....bl**dy everywhere.

shall have to think of some more..brb!

Dave.

 

Adey Baker

Member

• Oct 13, 2004

• #75

I always thought 'Cleaning -up the Interior' always sounded good - like you were not going birding but staying home to do some housework!

 

C

cliven

Member

• Oct 28, 2005

• #76

Dip in/dip out

Think I can help out here.

When I was a kid in West Yorks the way you'd choose "king of the castle" or who was "it" for games of tig etc, would be to stand in a circle with your "spuds in" (fists in the centre of the circle). The leader (usually a self appointed bigger kid) would then recite the following rhyme while pointing to each person's "spud" in turn with each syllable of the rhyme:

Ip dip my blue ship
Sails on the water
Like a cup and saucer
You
Do
Not
Have
It

The owner of the "spud" identified at the end of the rhyme would step out of the circle knowing that they would not "be it" or "king" depending on the game. That person would be said to have "dipped out". Not necessarily a bad thing!

Any decision, it often seemed, could be made by "dipping for it".

To "dip out" meant, by extension, in our juvenile lexicon, to have missed out on something by misfortune.

Ah happy days, could've lived without the chinese burns though.

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2005

Keith Dickinson

Well-known member

Opus Editor

• Oct 28, 2005

• #77

dirtbird

this term I have to say really offends me. First heard it at a lecture being given by well known yorkshire birder, to describe the prevalence of a few of the bird species in the region that he was describing. Just because the species were common they became 'dirtbirds'. Have since heard the term when in hides when the local 'GOB' is sounding off about his latest trip (it's always male, I believe 'GOBs' are hemaphrodites). The birds they talk about are 'lifers' to some people, as they were to the user once.
I have seen thousands of chaffinches but never once would I refer to them as dirtbirds.
Keith

 

S

spoony

Active member

• Oct 28, 2005

• #78

bird name abbrev.

Shurely everyone has had a Jam tart in the east or a Grotfinch on Scilly in October? (Male and first winter/female Common Rosefinch)

 

B

bradinho

Well-known member

• Nov 13, 2008

• #79

Being a Boro lad the following names are a must

Spuggie = House Sparrow
Stinker = Starling
Blackie + Blackbird
Maggie = Magpie
Seagull = Herring gull......how often do people use "Sea Gull" ?
Kezzie = Kestrel
Lappie = Lapwing
Waggie = Pied Wagtail
...this is all a bit predictable

Also use Bobin for Robin

What about Seagle for Sea Eagle?
How about JD for JackDaw?

 

Andrew Haynes

New member

• Jan 27, 2013

• #80

One particularly awful bird nickname I have heard is "Lurp" for Little Ringer Plover (LRP).