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Acros and Acronyms- birding terms explained! - beginning birders (1 Viewer)

NaturePete said:
IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Honest (or Humble) Opinion
Cheers, as I like putting my oar in now and then I will have to use these ;)

Ringtail- Female (or immature) Hen Harrier or Montagu's (or indeed Pallid) Harriers. (They have a white rump!)

LBJ- Little Brown Job. ie small brown bird which you haven't yet id'ed (identified), maybe because it was in flight or too skulking. Could be something interesting, more than likely to turn out to be a Dunnock or similar. Any level of birder can get LBJ's, some of which may remain unidentified.
 
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Alcid - an undetermined member of the Alcidae (usually Guillemot/Auk in the UK)
Corvid - a crow (can come in handy if you're unsure about Rook/Carrion Crow/Raven)
Plastic - a bird which is likely to have escaped from captivity
Escape - a bird that has escaped from captivity (don't use "escapee" if you wanna sound like a pro!)
Gripped off - what you are when you've just dipped a bird that other twitchers that arrived earlier managed to see.
Vis-mig - visible migration; hence vis-migging: watching visible migration (of land birds). If your watching (migrating) seabirds from the coast, you're seawatching – if you take a ship out to sea to do the same, it's a pelagic (trip).

And now some conflict-inducing terms...
Suppression - keeping the presence of a rarity a secret. Something that gets many twitchers very angry – even the suggestion of suppression will do that. However, suppressing a breeding rarity or one in a truly inaccessible area surely is justifiable.
Stringer - someone who claims a rarity without having seen enough detail, or who makes up details he hasn't seen. Usually, used for a birder that should know better – and whose sightings are therefore easily dismissed by other birders. A beginner should be excused for making mistakes.
Dude - a term experienced birders use for people who look experienced, but lack skill (like being unable to tell a Common Scoter from an Eider, or a Curlew Sandpiper from a Bar-tailed Godwit). Not to be used in someone's face!
Robin-stroker - people who love their garden birds, but otherwise only show an interest in (easily recognisable) birds on organised trips. Again, not to be used in someone's face...
 
BOU - British Ornithologists Union. Their aim is to promote the study of birds, both within the birdwatching and scientific communities. Publisher of the official 'British List.'
THE BRITISH LIST - see above
BBRC - BRITISH BIRDS RARITIES COMMITEE. The organisation to which all British rarity records should be submitted.

BLOCKER - Term used by twitchers, for a bird that is so rare, and seen by so few, that it is unlikely be seen by many other people for many years, if ever. Consequently, it can help to 'block' others from keeping up with the lists of the few that have seen it.
ULTIMATE BLOCKER - variation on the above (but even rarer!)
 
Good initiative dantheman,
any chance that the BF administrators will install a glossary tool here in the forum?
Cheers,
Max
 
In addition to 'sprawk', I've seen 'gawk' used for goshawk.
We're such nerds... ;)
There's a lot of older and local names for birds, peewit, dabchick, sprosser, seapie, etc...*


* translated as lapwing, little grebe, thrush nightingale, oystercatcher
 
And some geographical ones:

SF = sewage farm
GP = gravel pit(s)
LNR = Local nature reserve
NT = National Trust
WWT = Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
 
Assorted bird names
PG Tips - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler
Icky - Icterine Warbler
Willy Willow Warbler (ditto Sedgie)
RBF Red-breasted Flycatcher
OBP Olive-backed Pipit
Big Larry Large Larus spp (Large White-headed Gull) (LWHG)
 
Lumper Someone who, when there's controversy surrounding whether to classify a bird (or other animal) as a species or subspecies, tends to count them as subspecies.

Splitter As above, but with a tendency to "split" a bird into several species.

Armchair Tick When someone can add a new species on to their lifelist retrospectively when a species has been split into several.
 
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In no particular order:

Golden O = Golden Oriole
RB Fly, RB Flicker = Red-breasted Flycatcher
Sibe = a vagrant of Siberian origin
Yank = a vagrant of (usually North) American origin
Dick's Pipit = Richard's Pipit


Jono Leadley
 
Mike Feely said:
Pipits:

Mipit - Meadow Pipit
Tripit - Tree Pipit
Wapit - Water Pipit
Ropit - Rock Pipit

(all of these phrases for Pipits should be avoided unless you want to be severely beaten because they are horrible!)

I've got a whole list of these somewhere, i'll have to dig it out.

Mike


If a Meadow Pipit is a Mipit, why isn't Tree Pipit a Tipit and a Rock Pipit, a Ripit and a Water Pipit a Wipit or is that a type of dog? ;)
 
Jane Turner said:
Assorted bird names
Willy Willow Warbler (ditto Sedgie)
Big Larry Large Larus spp (Large White-headed Gull) (LWHG)

Made up surely they sound riduculous, either way think I might use them in future
 
I use them regularly Steve.

Anything about? Not much - a few Willies in the Poplars and there is a substantial flock of big Larrys, but I can't be arsed wading through then on the off chance there is a cach in them


The may be local, but I doubt it.
 
SteveClifton said:
I suppose this perfectly illustrates your example, that subspecies can be 'upgraded' to full species level, and is commonly known as a 'Split'.
If you've already seen both subspecies/species, and you're hungry for new birds to extend your list, then this would constitute an 'armchair tick'.


The opposite of a split (and it does happen) is when two species are "lumped" together. Taxonomists can generally be divided into "splitters" and "lumpers" although they are difficult to distinguish in the field, and some may be balanced enough to allow some splits while lumping other groups. Possibly the last group are hybrids. All groups may or may not be viable.

John
 
Xenospiza said:
[

Dude - a term experienced birders use for people who look experienced, but lack skill (like being unable to tell a Common Scoter from an Eider, or a Curlew Sandpiper from a Bar-tailed Godwit). Not to be used in someone's face!

Expansion of dude: real dudes often have the best kit, are often seen in pairs in which case it will be "his and hers" - 30X scope and 10X bins for bloke, 20X Piccolo and 8X bins for female.

I saw one pair in all-over purple rain suits at Titchwell and I've got a photo to prove it.

For the avoidance of doubt: it is possible to get from novice birder to manic twitcher (or contented local patcher) without ever being a dude.

John
 
Low lister - life list fewer than 400

Kid Lister - keen young birder

spanner - (v) to get an id wrong - they spannered the Pacific Diver

leeched - beset by leeches in an unpleasant manner in an Asian forest. They even get into your pants! - I got leeched on my *****

UTV - untickable views

Mong - Norwich colloquial - used to address the less than experienced type that races about everywhere - The mongs spannered the Bean Goose.
 
I don't think we've had
gropper = grasshopper warbler
Some abbreviations are pretty standard: like gcg lsw gsw lrp seo leo etc (great crested grebe, lesser spotted woodpecker, little ringed plover, long-eared owl etc).
Of course, to be politically correct, it should be LP now but I'm conservative.
 
Some abbreviations are pretty standard: like gcg lsw gsw lrp seo leo etc (great crested grebe, lesser spotted woodpecker, little ringed plover, long-eared owl etc).

Phonetically GCG = greasy and LRP = lurp, also GND, Oyc & albas (Pied/White Wagtails on Vismig)

No mention yet of tart yet - generally the commonest or most embarrassing species not yet on someone's list (life, patch or whatever)

Eg Waxwing is a bit of tart, or to when attempting to grip off those who have dipped. 'Pacific Diver, bit of a tart's tick'!

And of course I hope you are all raspberries ;)
 
dantheman said:
Chiff/willow- occasionally you may come across this one. Means you haven't been able to suss which one it is on the views you have had! (of Chiffchaff and Willow warbler)

The one that I remember from the very early 1970s was willow chiff. Another one was commic tern when you couldn't identify whether it was common or arctic.
Allen
 
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