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Birds named after rivers (1 Viewer)

opisska

opisska

rabid twitcher
Czech Republic
Last year in Georgia, I found myself on the banks of the Terek river and I thought to myself: there ought to be a sandpiper here! There weren't any, but recently I started wondering, what else is named after a river and found out this is not a simple quest at all, simply because there is a lot of rivers around and I don't recognize their names as such - and there doesn't seem to be any list of river-y bird names floating around on the internet.

Looking through the birds on my llifelist, I found:
- Terek Sandpiper
- Luapula Cisticola
- Gila Woodpecker
- Amur Falcon
- Larus delawarensis (even if it were for the state, that's name for the river)

moreover
- clearly, a plenty of Amazon somethings

and with a bit of cheating:
- Nile Valley Sunbird

Also, not seen by me yet:
Orinoco Goose
Zambezi Indigobird
Parana Antwren
Mississippi Kite
Mekong Wagtail
 
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How would you treat Ural Owl? There is a Ural River as well as Mountains. I suspect the Owl was named after the Mountains, but shares a name with the River.
 
JWN Andrewes said:
How would you treat Ural Owl? There is a Ural River as well as Mountains. I suspect the Owl was named after the Mountains, but shares a name with the River.
Click to expand...

It seems that the river is named after the mountains, only in 18th century, so this one probably doesn't make it.
 
You OK with Hudsonian after Hudson River? That would give you a couple more.

A couple of South American candidates; Baudo Oropendola & Cauca Guam.
 
Stygian Owl.

By the way, OBC images lists an alternative name for the Terek Sandpiper: Avocet Sandpiper.
 
Fly River Grassbird.

Also, I have a vague recollection that Sterna bergii (Greater Crested Tern) is named after the Berg River in South Africa.
 
Jan, I assume you have a few Pheasant's in/on your list ... ;)

Phasianus itself, means ”from Phasis”, and Phasis was (in classical antiquity) the name of today's Rioni (a k a Rion or Fasis River), which flows down from Caucasus into the Black Sea.

My MS (of Swedish Common/Vernacular names) is crowded with various Rivers, for example/s, (when they correspond, or very close to, with their English names), except for the ones already shown:
  • Huallaga Tanager Ramphocelus melanogaster
  • 'Idenburg (River) Swiftlet' (Collocalia) Aerodramus papuensis (today's Papuan Swiftlet)
  • Irrawaddy or Streak-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus blanfordi (a k a Blanford's Bulbul)
  • ... and on, and on ....

Good luck with your list!

Björn
 
JWN Andrewes said:
...
Also, I have a vague recollection that Sterna bergii (Greater Crested Tern) is named after the Berg River in South Africa.
Click to expand...
Vague it might be ... but incorrect. ;)

Sterna bergii is an Eponym (see here, No.10)

/B

PS. And (Jan), I would be careful with quite a few 'Congo' birds. Hard to tell if it's after the River, the Country, the Colony, etc. etc., if every and either one of all those birds are named after the River, the Country, the Colony, etc. etc. Quite a few geographical names, of countries, areas, districts, old colonies, protectorates, etc., etc., and even mountains are/were, in their turn, named after Rivers. The same would go for Niger, Zambezi, Zambia, Gambia, Senegal Bird/s, and Orinoco, Delaware, Mississippi, ... and onwards, and on, and on.

I guess you would need to check every single OD. A lot of work. You're in for a loooooong list.
-
 
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