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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Acros and Acronyms- birding terms explained! - beginning birders (3 Viewers)

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).

When we used to watch/monitor the wader migration at Broome we'd refer to it as Migwatch (Migration watch).

In Australia if you hear someone mention an OBP they're talking about an Orange-bellied Parrot (or if you're a certain Victorian politician you'd call it a "Trumped Up Corella").

Squeaker - an Audubon Bird Caller. A small, red device that allows you to make sounds that possibly call up birds, without suffering the potential embarrasment that pishing with lips and hands requires. Some skilled squeaker users can accurately replicate the calls of quite a few little bush birds. They are also great for annoying housemates.

LBC - Little Black Cormorant
LPC - Little Pied Cormorant
BFCS - Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Cranky Fan - Grey Fantail

Junk bird - A bird so common as to be "worthless" on a lifelist. For example a Rock Dove or a Silver Gull.
Crippling view - A very good look at a bird.
 
I have heard a rude one:

CMF - Cosmic Mind F***er for a really superb bird, usually a very rare vagrant. I think our American friends have a much politer one, with the same meaning: Cosmic Mind Blower. Of course, I'd only use the polite one. ;)
 
This is too funny and worth a regular visit...
Please keep it up...

But has anyone else seen a Buff-breasted Tanner while scoping for peeps?
 
In Australia if you hear someone mention an OBP they're talking about an Orange-bellied Parrot (or if you're a certain Victorian politician you'd call it a "Trumped Up Corella").

Junk bird - A bird so common as to be "worthless" on a lifelist. For example a Rock Dove or a Silver Gull.
Crippling view - A very good look at a bird.

In UK an OBP is an Olive-backed Pipit. I suspect not as spectacular a bird as your OBP.

Your junk birds become trash birds or dirt birds over here. Naturally twitchers tend to move birds towards trash a little early - Cattle Egret is the new trash just now I suspect - or they may become tarts (i.e. too easily available....)

Crippling views we do have - turning aside for a sec, having just read Sean Dooley's book I was impressed with how similar British and Australian birding jargon is. Much more so than British and American. Even quite common things can give crippling views but a good looking rarity is a crippler.

John
 
Few more here....
Sprosser – (n) Old (germanic?) name for Thrush Nightingale - still in some usage
Irania - (n) Old (and latin) name for White-throated Robin
Whoring it – (v) Showing very well to large numbers of people
Dross – (n) Common birds (as junk birds)
Nobbers – (n) Derogatory term for dudes
Chumped – (v) As spannered
Ropey – (adj) As stringy
WP – (n) Western Palearctic
Giga – (n) Very rare mega – newish term
Gash – (adj) Rubbish, terrible
Snided – Full, overcrowded E.g. Titchwell was snided with dudes.
Wick – (adj) Full (yorkshire coloquialism?) E.g. Sprun was wick with Goldcrests
Finn-sticks - (n) Those odd-looking poles that people balance their binoculars on (mainly used in Scandinavia)

Re: Mongs – I reckon the theory of dutch lineage of this could be right – I’ve only ever heard it said by fairly well-travelled world birders.
 
Pink Stink - Adult Rosy Starling (previously known as Rose-coloured Starling)

Fawn Yawn - Imm/1st winter Rosy Starling.

Not totally sure the reasoning behind the derogatory nature of the nicknames. Probably because they're considered to be Tarts Ticks. .
 
Few more here....
Sprosser – (n) Old (germanic?) name for Thrush Nightingale - still in some usage
Irania - (n) Old (and latin) name for White-throated Robin
Whoring it – (v) Showing very well to large numbers of people
Dross – (n) Common birds (as junk birds)
Nobbers – (n) Derogatory term for dudes
Chumped – (v) As spannered
Ropey – (adj) As stringy
WP – (n) Western Palearctic
Giga – (n) Very rare mega – newish term
Gash – (adj) Rubbish, terrible
Snided – Full, overcrowded E.g. Titchwell was snided with dudes.
Wick – (adj) Full (yorkshire coloquialism?) E.g. Sprun was wick with Goldcrests
Finn-sticks - (n) Those odd-looking poles that people balance their binoculars on (mainly used in Scandinavia)

Re: Mongs – I reckon the theory of dutch lineage of this could be right – I’ve only ever heard it said by fairly well-travelled world birders.

Have to disagree on Mongs, sadly it has been common usage at schoolkid level for those afflicted with Down's syndrome (i.e. Mongols to the unkind) for over forty years. Transfer to birding usage is obvious.

John
 
Jizz - The general demeanour, behaviour and "aura" of a bird, that can be a useful aid in distinguishing between similar species. Can be hard to explain to others who aren't familiar with the species. Probably not one to use among non-birders in the UK, where "jizz" is slang for semen - ie "I knew it was a tree pipit not a meadow pipit - to me its jizz felt completely different".


Surely spelt GISS, as in General Impressions Size & Shape?
 
1CY
2CY
3CY

I registered today, with the purpose of asking what these stood for.

Suffered some technical problems using the forum and, during the delays passed the time by continuing to read the blog where I saw these used. Further on, it was shown un-abbreviated and just meant 1st, 2nd, 3rd Calendar Year.
 
Hi Spadge, it's an ageing system usually applied to gulls in the field.

1st Calendar year (I.e a first year bird)
2nd Calendar year
3rd Calendar year

Also google EUAGEING codes for an alternative system.
 
A few names from when I was a kid...

Scribbler.... Reed Bunting ... named from its egg colouring and sad to say, when Eggs were collected and their recognition was equally respected... I still have my 2 Observers books, one of Birds and the other Birds Eggs... the Bibles of my then birding World.....

7 coloured Linnet..... Goldfinch
Paddy ................ Pied Wagtail
Throstle ................ Song Thrush
Storm Cock ......... Mistle Thrush
Wibbler ............. Willow Warbler
 
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