Are bird names supposed to be written in capital letters? (1 Viewer)

[Nutcracker]

Which would surely imply the existence of a distinct group, the "Headless-Nuthatches" - Sinecapitasitta sp.. Funny, never heard of those...
:h?:

Like the Ungolden-Plovers Sineaureopluvialis spp.? :t:

 

[Silverwolf]

Except "Savannah", with or without the capital, is spelled differently to the purely African "savanna".

Not sure what primitive wheat / Wheat has to do with it, though.

I've never met anyone who spelt the African habitat without an h. According to a brief internet search, spelling it without an h on the end is the American preference.

http://grammarist.com/spelling/savanna-savannah/

 

[Jos Stratford]

Except "Savannah", with or without the capital, is spelled differently to the purely African "savanna".

Except the African grassland habitat is also widely, and correctly, spelt with the 'h' :t:

For example by the BBC and in the Cambridge and Oxford Dictionary

Therefore, without a history lesson, there is no way to know if this little sparrow is named after the habitat or the city ...but since bird names should have capitals ( ) those who follow this will never be wrong with this particular bird.


PS. don't most British also spell the past form of spell with a 't' at the end?

 

[Silverwolf]

Except the African grassland habitat is also widely, and correctly, spelt with the 'h' :t:

For example by the BBC and in the Cambridge and Oxford Dictionary

Therefore, without a history lesson, there is no way to know if this little sparrow is named after the habitat or the city ...but since bird names should have capitals ( ) those who follow this will never be wrong with this particular bird.


PS. don't most British also spell the past form of spell with a 't' at the end?

Hah as I did apparently in the post above...British at heart it seems.

So out of all of this discussion, all we can agree on is that chris/Chris is not British.

 

[Farnboro John]

it seems a classic case of a minority special interest group seeking to impose their particular priorities upon the uninformed masses.

To paraphrase William Munny in Unforgiven: Well, they should've informed themselves.

John

 

[MJB]

I've never met anyone who spelt the African habitat without an h.

TOWIE abitat?
MJB

 

[johnallcock]

Personally I find not capitalising species names to be inconsistent with the approaches of other 'minority interest groups'.

Wikipedia has an 'In the news' section on the home page. A quick look now reveals that they include reference to (among others):
- Malaysia's Federal Court
- the Grammy Awards (including Record of the Year and Album of the Year)
- the Africa Cup of Nations
- the British Academy Film Awards (including Best Film)
- the painting When Will You Marry?
- the website Silk Road

I don't really understand why these are capitalised but species names should not be. Similarly, there seems to be no questions about capitalising sports teams (anyone ever see reference to e.g. Manchester city football club or the premier league?)

Personally, I see species names as being equivalent to proper nouns and therefore capitalise all species names, whether they are birds, mammals, frogs, insects, whatever.

 

[Helenelizabeth2]

Having thought a bit and read everyone's opinions, I may be diverging from the GSG. The trouble is that talking about a robin in your garden (which is the kind of usage that GSG was catering for), is not the same as talking about a Lanceolated Warbler in the field. I think birders do need the capitalisation to differentiate, for example, between a little grebe (which might be one of a few species) and a Little Grebe or a black thrush (which might be a Blackbird) and a Black Thrush (which would generate a bit more excitement). I am going to have a word with the GSG.

 

[delia todd]

Capitalising place names but not the descriptor, to me looks just plain silly.

I think the drive comes from people who think it takes too long to hold the shift key down!

 

[Andy Hurley]

PS. don't most British also spell the past form of spell with a 't' at the end?

I suppose it depends if they are writing about the correct order of letters in a word or a set of words to form a magical effect

 

[Andy Hurley]

Capitalising place names but not the descriptor, to me looks just plain silly.

I think the drive comes from people who think it takes too long to hold the shift key down!

but if you are abbreviating, say
GBB Gull
or GBb Gull then it is easier and quicker to use capitals for all the abbreviations.

I have lists of birds by taxa, which is faster for finding a bird that I forget the the descriptor for, e.g. Common, Eurasian or Yellow
I also have lists of birds in alphabetical order which is fine except if I'd left in the hyphens, it would cause difficulty in searching. That is why I always omit any hyphens.

 

[chris butterworth]

PS. don't most British also spell the past form of spell with a 't' at the end?

"spelt" = ancient type of wheat.
"spelled" = 2 guesses.

I have to agree that custom and misuse have made the two spellings interchangeable though.

 

[MJB]

but if you are abbreviating, say
GBB Gull
or GBb Gull then it is easier and quicker to use capitals for all the abbreviations.

I have lists of birds by taxa, which is faster for finding a bird that I forget the the descriptor for, e.g. Common, Eurasian or Yellow
I also have lists of birds in alphabetical order which is fine except if I'd left in the hyphens, it would cause difficulty in searching. That is why I always omit any hyphens.

Andy,
The media here are split between a British 'little tank' / 'Little Tank' that went for an unauthorised trundle into a Paderborner Burgergarten.... :-O

Do you prefer the version with initial capitals?:eek!:
MJB

 

[dantheman]

"spelt" = ancient type of wheat.
"spelled" = 2 guesses.

I have to agree that custom and misuse have made the two spellings interchangeable though.

Just as long as 'masseuse' and 'misuse' don't become interchangeable.

Spelled is one of those words which do look wrong imo - like ringed as in ringed birds.


(Actually that's another example where capitalization comes into its own - there's a significant difference between 'I saw a ringed plover' AND 'I saw a Ringed Plover' ... )

 

[Silverwolf]

I think lesser black-backed gull (and greater) have the most potential for confusion out of all species...

lesser black-backed gull (correct usage...:t
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-Backed Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
lesser Black-backed gull (when referring to black-backed as a collective term for dark gulls, I only know one person who has done this...)

Abbreviations:
LBBG
LBbG
lbbg

And before anyone calls me out for it....
Larus fuscus
Larus fuscus
Larus Fuscus (Please don't)
Larus Fuscus (pet peeve moment, all for the good of the thread)



Can we just call it lesserback now?

 

[Andy Hurley]

Andy,
The media here are split between a British 'little tank' / 'Little Tank' that went for an unauthorised trundle into a Paderborner Burgergarten.... :-O

Do you prefer the version with initial capitals?:eek!:
MJB

Mike, you sound like a polititian! (deliberate misspelling to kept the bird context) You are dissembling. If the "tank" has the proper name "Little Tank" then that would be correct. If it was a description of and APC with a cannon on top then lower case would be correct. Not that armoured cars and tanks and guns have anything to do with Bird Names. FWIW, personally I prefer to capitalise the first letter of every name and leave out the hyphens.

 

[Peter C.]

Having thought a bit and read everyone's opinions, I may be diverging from the GSG. The trouble is that talking about a robin in your garden (which is the kind of usage that GSG was catering for), is not the same as talking about a Lanceolated Warbler in the field. I think birders do need the capitalisation to differentiate, for example, between a little grebe (which might be one of a few species) and a Little Grebe or a black thrush (which might be a Blackbird) and a Black Thrush (which would generate a bit more excitement). I am going to have a word with the GSG.

Globe & Mail and CBC style guides mandate lower-case as well, and much of the print and on-line media over here follows them; drives me bats (not, "Bats"). In an e-mail exchange with a writer at a local newspaper, I tried pointing out to that their guide directly contradicts the practice of academic journals, but to no avail....

The 'ringed plover/Ringed Plover' example is a particularly good one.

Peter C.
(H. sapiens)

 

[Richard Klim]

In an e-mail exchange with a writer at a local newspaper, I tried pointing out to that their guide directly contradicts the practice of academic journals, but to no avail....

As a browse of the taxomomy forum will confirm, lower case is frequently used for species common names in peer-reviewed academic journals. Many avoid the use of vernacular names altogether, which I think is the best approach in scientific papers (as I commented earlier).

 

[chris butterworth]

As a browse of the taxomomy forum will confirm, lower case is frequently used for species common names in peer-reviewed academic journals, although (as I commented earlier) I think it's better to avoid using vernacular names altogether in scientific papers.

I totally agree with Richard ( it'd be a brave man who didn't ). Vernacular names, in scientific papers only muddy the waters. In other literature, of whatever form, the use of upper / lower case and varying vernacular names may make it a bit more difficult but, in all honesty, when birders are dealing with Gulls, Empidonax Flycatcher or the wingformulae of Old World Warblers in the field it's not that difficult to figure out.

 

[MJB]

Mike, you sound like a polititian! (deliberate misspelling to kept the bird context) You are dissembling. If the "tank" has the proper name "Little Tank" then that would be correct. If it was a description of and APC with a cannon on top then lower case would be correct. Not that armoured cars and tanks and guns have anything to do with Bird Names. FWIW, personally I prefer to capitalise the first letter of every name and leave out the hyphens.

Andy,
I was referencing the 'Little Tank' of Leutnant Hubert Gruber in 'Allo, 'Allo...
MJB