herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) (04/15/91)
Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip :-) species nicnames. Some starters: tee vee Turkey Vulture modo Mourning Dove winter chippie American Tree Sparrow GBH Great Blue Heron (may be dated) Any others?
john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) (04/16/91)
Maurice Herlihy (herlihy@crl.dec.com) writes: +-- | tee vee Turkey Vulture +-- I've heard lots of birders use this, it's probably universal. +-- | modo Mourning Dove +-- This comes from the 4-letter name code used by banders. I've heard several other 4-letter codes pronounced and used as nicknames at Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO). My favorite cute bird nicknames are a couple I remember from a list posted on the wall of a house in Bolinas, CA where a couple of PRBO ornithologists lived. A non-birding woman who had lived there for a while had put it up. She was too much of a free spirit to learn the right names, so she made up her own. A couple of them were so apropos that I remember them fifteen years later: "Tippy Glider" (turkey vulture) "Angel Hawk" (black-shouldered kite) -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, NM/john@jupiter.nmt.edu ``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber
dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) (04/16/91)
In article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com> herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) writes: >Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip :-) species nicnames. > tee vee Turkey Vulture > modo Mourning Dove > winter chippie American Tree Sparrow > GBH Great Blue Heron (may be dated) GHO Great Horned Owl 'tail or RTH Red-tailed hawk rodo rock dove bitchbird Bald Eagle (local. You have to know Johnny!) sharpie sharpshinned hawk (also Gos, Coop, and other "abbreviates") 'grin or PEFA Peregrine falcon shortie short-eared owl SWO saw-whet owl LEO long-eared owl These are the ones I use on rescue call sheets. -- Sam Conway * "And if you give us any more dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu * trouble I shall visit you in the Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * small hours and put a bat up your Vermont Raptor Center (VINS) * nightdress!" -- Basil Fawlty
grp@Unify.com (Greg Pasquariello) (04/16/91)
In article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com>, herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) writes: > From: herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) > Subject: Trendy species nicnames > Date: 15 Apr 91 00:41:09 GMT > Organization: DEC Cambridge Research Lab > > Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip :-) species nicnames. > Some starters: > > tee vee Turkey Vulture > modo Mourning Dove > winter chippie American Tree Sparrow > GBH Great Blue Heron (may be dated) > > Any others? Hugo Hudsonian Godwit Margo Marbled Godwit Sharpie Sharp-shinned Hawk Dickey Bird Anything small and unidentified Shoulder Red-shouldered Hawk Tail Red-tailed Hawk Coop Cooper's Hawk Mudpecker Any dowitcher (I think my birding group in NJ invented this) Dump Buzzard Any gull (I think this is Peter Dunne's) Butter Butt Yellow-rumped Warbler #%^&@ Anything you want to id but can't and of course Empid Any unidentified Empidonax Peep Any unidentified sandpiper -- --- Greg Pasquariello grp@unify.com Unify Corporation Be good and never poison people
jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt) (04/17/91)
In article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com> herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) writes: >Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip :-) species nicnames. >Some starters: > tee vee Turkey Vulture > modo Mourning Dove > winter chippie American Tree Sparrow > GBH Great Blue Heron (may be dated) >Any others? Let's see, I've heard "mocker" for the Northern Mockingbird and "bend over" for Bendire's Thrasher. My favorite is "butterbutt" for the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also like the "violent green swallow" (Violet-Green Swallow). A couple ornithologists I know use "trash bird" for those sticks and bags and bits of plastic that look like a bird until you get them in your binocs. -- "We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds - the booby and the noddy.... Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visitors, that I could have killed any number of them with my geological hammer." (Charles Darwin) Kathleen Hunt / jespah@milton.u.washington.edu
burhans@mizar.usc.edu (Mustang Sally) (04/17/91)
In article <1991Apr16.204747.22862@milton.u.washington.edu> jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt) writes: >Let's see, I've heard "mocker" for the Northern Mockingbird and "bend over" >for Bendire's Thrasher. My favorite is "butterbutt" for the Yellow-rumped >Warbler. I've also heard them called yellow-butts >I also like the "violent green swallow" (Violet-Green Swallow). I like this a lot! >A couple ornithologists I know use "trash bird" for those sticks and bags >and bits of plastic that look like a bird until you get them in your binocs. I've also heard terminator bird (I think) for when you are watching the phone poles along the highway and think you see one and its a terminator or was that transistor--something like that. Then there are the plane birds that always excite me--especially the Common Cherokee Piper birds. I use Wooder for Woodpeckers or pecker for that matter. Or Mr. Wood. I don't know if it counts but a friend calls Rock Doves, Rat Birds. No respect at all! Ok, its not a nickname but anytime I see a bird that has a name of the form American xxx, e.g. American Wigeon, I break out into a rendition of the Tom Petty (I think) song: She's an American girl! only substituting the bird name. Some people think I'm nuts. However these people are married to me so their opinion hardly counts. -- Jackie Burhans (burhans@usc.edu) Data Stylist, USC Student Affairs
rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay) (04/18/91)
From article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com>, by herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy):
> Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip species nicnames.
Here in Oz, the Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike is almost universally known these
days as a BiFCuS
Bob McKay Phone: +61 6 268 8169 fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science ACSNET,CSNET: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz
Aust. Defence Force Academy UUCP: ...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz!rim
Canberra ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA ARPA: rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz@uunet.uu.netcwilliamson@pimacc.pima.edu (04/18/91)
I've heard MODO, TV, GBH since I met my wife in 1982 so there is no question in my mind what these mean. I'm surprised though from the messages on this topic imply that others use these just as freely. How about BBP? There are some 'joke' birdnames we use quite alot... Summer teenager bush(beeps) tits are censored! Wood(beep) cocks are censored! (beep)mouse Sometimes the sound the bird makes is somehow associated with its nicname: Gross'bick' for Grosbeak I don't know how many times we've been driving, and see a hawk, and then characterize it on seeing the belly-band (and dismiss it) "Just a 'tail" for Redtail. I've got a few personal ones. The silly getup of the Acorn Woodpecker leads me to call them 'bozo birds'. Chuck Williamson Tucson Az Cwilliamson@pimacc.pima.edu
edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (04/18/91)
In article <31994@usc> burhans@mizar.usc.edu (Mustang Sally) writes: >or was that transistor--something like that. Then there are the plane >birds that always excite me--especially the Common Cherokee Piper birds. We always called them gashawks. :) -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia
grp@Unify.com (Greg Pasquariello) (04/18/91)
In article <1991Apr16.204747.22862@milton.u.washington.edu>, jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt) writes: > A couple ornithologists I know use "trash bird" for those sticks and bags > and bits of plastic that look like a bird until you get them in your binocs. Ahh, the infamous Whisker Birds! I guess `cuz clumps of sticks and weeds look whiskery. > > -- > (Charles Darwin) Kathleen Hunt / jespah@milton.u.washington.edu --- Greg Pasquariello grp@unify.com Unify Corporation Be good and never poison people
cs191041@cs.brown.edu (Andrew Sundelin) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr18.040800.18306@sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au>, rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay) writes: |> From article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com>, by herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy): |> > Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip species nicnames. |> Here in Oz, the Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike is almost universally known these |> days as a BiFCuS ^^^^^^ how does one say this? Andrew Sundelin cs191041@cs.brown.edu
wgoble@bbn.com (Wendy Goble) (04/22/91)
In article <1991Apr18.113523.5842@verdix.com> edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: >In article <31994@usc> burhans@mizar.usc.edu (Mustang Sally) writes: > >>or was that transistor--something like that. Then there are the plane >>birds that always excite me--especially the Common Cherokee Piper birds. > >We always called them gashawks. :) We always called them buzzers. Wendy wgoble@bbn.com
bcking@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Christine King x4426) (04/23/91)
I think it's Roger T. Peterson that calls all unidentifiable warblers "Green-and-Yellow Eyestrain"? -- --Christine King Internet: bcking@HQ.ileaf.COM UUCP: uunet!leafusa!bcking US Mail: Interleaf, Inc. 9 Hillside Avenue Waltham MA 02154
gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) (04/24/91)
In article <1991Apr15.004109.8828@crl.dec.com>, herlihy@crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) writes: > Just for fun, I'd like to assemble a list of currently hip :-) species nicnames. > Some starters: > > tee vee Turkey Vulture > modo Mourning Dove > winter chippie American Tree Sparrow > GBH Great Blue Heron (may be dated) > > Any others? "Unreal" birds: NAB Not a Bird, includes "trash" birds such as Clorox Bottle Snowy Owls, Squirrel Nest Hawks, Stick Anhingas, etc. Gashawk An airplane, great to point out to beginners on field trips. Whirlibird A helicopter (obviously). Real birds: JRD Jive Rock Dove (possibly local to Manhattan, KS; coined by Marty Stapanian at KSU, I believe). And, my personal favorite, coined by my wife Karen: Lawn Dowitcher European Starling ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer, <o \ | Auburn Hills, MI 48326, (313) 370-1737 | \\/ ) / cheer, \ ( \// | gss@edsdrd.eds.com | \ / cheer!!! \ / | "Have bird will watch ..." |