Alternative names and nicknames for Birds (2 Viewers)

[helenol]

Is it possible this thread could become a "sticky", therefore alleviating the tedious task of searching through threads looking for a name of a bird when someone has called it by it's "other name" I'm not that well up on birdy nicknames etc, I have a hard time as it is with their "proper" names!

After delving into the archives, I stumbled upon the following post, written, I believe, by Mr Frankis.

"A list of birder's bird name shorthand, and popular alternative names & nicknames?

Most are pretty obvious, but not all; here's a selection of mainly UK ones for starters:
Barwit - Bar-tailed Godwit
BHG - Black-headed Gull
Bimac - Bimaculated Lark
Blackwit - Black-tailed Gotwit
Bonxie - Great Skua
Butterbutt - Yellow-rumped Warbler (US)
Canarycrest - Canary Islands Goldcrest
Curly Sand - Curlew Sandpiper
Dartboard Warbler - Dartford Warbler (because that's what most spellcheckers turn it into!)
Dickypit - Richard's Pipit
Elsie ('LC') - Lesser Crested Tern
Fudge Duck - Ferruginous Duck
GBB - Great Black-backed Gull
Great Spot! - Great Spotted Woodpecker
Gropper - Grasshopper Warbler
Guillie - Common Guillemot (Common Murre, US)
Hoodie - Hooded Crow
Hudwit - Hudsonian Godwit
Icky - Icterine Warbler
Lancy - Lanceolated Warbler
LEO - Long-eared Owl
Lesserpecker - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
LBB - Lesser Black-backed Gull
Mipit - Meadow Pipit
Oyk - Oystercatcher
Pec - Pectoral Sandpiper
P G Tips - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler
Phal - Phalarope
Pie, (greek letter) pi - Magpie
Pied Wag - Pied Wagtail
Pom - Pomarine Skua
Purps - Purple Sandpiper
R B Flicker - Red-breasted Flycatcher (flicks its tail a lot)
R B Merg - Red-breasted Merganser
Ropit - Rock Pipit
Sharpie - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (UK, OZ), Sharp-shinned Hawk (US)
Sibe - any species, rare in Britain, from Siberia
Sibechat - Siberian Stonechat
Skemmy - feral Rock Dove / street pigeon
Spotshank - Spotted Redshank
Spotty Fly - Spotted Flycatcher
Spuggie - (House) Sparrow
Tripit - Tree Pipit
Tufty - Tufted Duck (UK), Tufted Titmouse (US)
TV - Turkey Vulture (US)
Tystie - Black Guillemot
Wapit - Water Pipit
Yank - any species, rare in Britain, from North America"

Admin, it would be a huge help if you could do this for those of us less familiar with the above names.

Thanks

 

[CJW]

Stuck.
Please only post alternative names, in subsequent posts, in a similar format to Helen's if possible.
Thanks,
Chris

 

[gthang]

you forgot:
GBH -- Great Blue Heron

Gthang

 

[Michael Frankis]

Seems reasonable to me to add GBH, people do use it, and it is confusing for those not familiar with it . . . over here, GBH is a legal term "Grievous Bodily Harm" (which I gather is what a Great Blue Heron can do to anyone who tries to pick one up!)

Michael

 

[Bluetail]

Quite agree, Michael. I remember when I was young(er) having to ask what these meant:

LRP - Little Ringed Plover
OBP - Olive-backed Pipit

Some more:

"Commic" Tern - a tern only identified imprecisely as either Common or Arctic Tern
Hippo - any warbler of the genus hippolais
Peewit - Lapwing (an old name, but still occasionally used)
Ringo - Ring Ouzel
"Willowchiff" - a warbler only identified imprecisely as either Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff
Yaffle - Green Woodpecker (another old name still occasionally heard)

Jason

 

[Gorgon]

This gets messy as different countries use the same codes:
LBB (or LBJ) - Little Brown Bird (or Jobbie) for anything small and hard to identify
Sprog - House Sparrow
BIFCUS - Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Butterbum - Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Crested Pig - Crested Pigeon
Wedgie - Wedge-tailed Eagle
are all some I can think for Australia.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[alan_rymer]

Hedge Spug ( Hedge Sparrow ) - Dunnock

 

[Charles Harper]

Some Americanisms, off the top of my head:

Buzzard - Vulture
Butcherbird - Shrike
Gobbler - Turkey
Hoodie - Hooded Merganser
Mudhen - Coot
Oldsquaw - Long-tailed Duck(probably in the f.g.)
Rain Crow - Cuckoo
Redwing - Red-winged Blackbird
Spotty - Spotted Sandpiper
Whisky Jack - Gray Jay(via another thread, thank you)

There seems to be an intellectual division between those who create diminutives for everything (Spotty, Hoodie, Semipalm, Pec)-- and those who adhere to the AOU alpha codes (SPSA, HOME, SPSA, PESA). (Not sure I got the latter right, I don`t use `em much anymore.)

 

[Nancy]

Jeez, I thought we Aussies were the worst in the world for abrieviating everything but you Brits do a good job too!

OBP also stands for Orange-bellied Parrot.

Fudge duck = trying to turn a Pacific Black Duck(common) into a Freckled Duck (rare)

 

[very boring banned member]

Black Headed Pratincoletern = white-eyed gull -This just appeared in another mystery gull thread.

 

[CJW]

Good to see you sticking to my request to only post alternative names and not go wandering off into the realms of fantasy.
Sorry Helen, I tried. I thought it was a good idea.

 

[samuel walker]

bird nicknames

Good to see you sticking to my request to only post alternative names and not go wandering off into the realms of fantasy.
Sorry Helen, I tried. I thought it was a good idea.

North American nick names"
great blue heron-Old cranky and long john
Pileated woodpecker- logcock and wood kate
Am woodcock-timberdoodle
Greg-great egret
butterbutt-yellow rumped warbler
honker-Canada goose
Little brown job(LBJ) unidentified sparrow
Poop see LBJ

 

[rogerk]

Snatcher - Oystercatcher
Gropper - Grasshopper Warbler
Chimney Swallow - old term for Swallow (unladen)
Um... that's it for now

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Sprosser - Thrush Nightingale (I think - not sure where it comes from)

 

[LzyPhotographer]

Isn't this one of yours?

SPRAWK - Sparrowhawk

 

[Screech]

North American

Woodie - Wood Duck
Pi - Pileated Woodpecker

 

[Bluetail]

Arctic Roll - Arctic (Hoary) Redpoll
Bearded Reedling - Bearded Tit
Boney/Bonie - Bonaparte's Gull
Dabchick - Little Grebe
Gos - Goshawk
GND - Great Northern Diver
Hedge Sparrow - Dunnock
Lesserlegs - Lesser Yellowlegs
Lesser Spot - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
LSW - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Manxie - Manx Shearwater
Med - Mediterranean Gull
Parrotbill - Parrot Crossbill
Sab - Sabine's Gull
Semi-p - Semipalmated Sandpiper
Stormie - Storm Petrel
Throstle - Song Thrush

 

[deboo]

H,

I use these....so be warned!

Barred Woodpecker - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
Big Mavis - Mistle Thrush
Starnol - Starling
Mavis - Song Thrush.....1 singing on me roof now!
Gee Cee Grebe - Great Crested Grebe
Spatula - Shoveler
Thingy - Any small brown bird I cannot i.d.

Dave.

 

[very boring banned member]

Spatula - Shoveler

This one is also used in finnish twitchoslang.

 

[Michael Frankis]

Sprosser - Thrush Nightingale (I think - not sure where it comes from)

Its German name!

Michael