snell@utzoo.UUCP (Richard Snell) (06/24/87)
In article <773@gryphon.CTS.COM> mhnadel@gryphon.CTS.COM (Miriam Nadel) writes >One of the less enlightened people I work with believes that buzzards and >vultures are completely distinct types of birds. Please can someone settle >an argument and provide us with lots of nice latin names since the dictionary >doesn't? > >Miriam Nadel The reason your dictionary does not provides "lots of nice Latin" is because it is of low quality. If you choose to look in the entries for either `buzzard' or `vulture' in a _real_ dictionary, such as the O.E.D., you will find excellent etymologies, which include the Latin roots. Etymologies of some bird names are given in the paperback "The dictionary of American bird names, revised edition, 1985, E.A. Choate, The Harvard Common Press." "Buzzard. L. _buteo_ through F. _busard_. In Britain a common name for the large soaring hawks. The early colonists coming from a country devoid of vultures bestowed the name on the large soaring American vultures, giving us Turkey Buzzard, Black Buzzard and even Mexican Buzzard for the Caracara." (From Choate, p. 9.) Too bad, but your "less enlightened" co-worker is correct. __ Name: Richard Snell Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: {allegra,decvax,ihnp4,linus,pyramid,yetti}!utzoo!snell
heather@blia.BLI.COM (Heather Mackinnon) (06/26/87)
I just thought I'd add a Western birdwatcher's perspective to this discussion. Out here, the turkey vulture is commonly called a buzzard; many people don't even know that there's another name for him. The condor is never called a buzzard or a vulture; but then there aren't many people who've seen them in the wild. We don't have black vultures, so they don't confuse the issue. I've always believed that there isn't a correct common name for a bird or plant -- all of the common names are equally valid. (This even goes for people who - shudder - call terns gulls.) If you want to be specific, use the Latin name. When I'm in the field and find a species I can't identify, I often hang a new common name on it just so I have a name to work with. For several plants, I liked my common name better than the one listed in the books, so I continued to use it. When walking with others, I've found that we'll positively identify a plant with as many as four different common names. Reference to the binomial always cleared up the confusion. Heather Mackinnon Disclaimer: I'm just an amateur birdwatcher and botanist. The only training I've had was some basic biology in college. Other than that, I'm entirely self-taught. Any mistakes I make are entirely my own.
mo@well.UUCP (Maurice Weitman) (06/28/87)
Speaking about vultures, I've just returned from the Yucatan
where most of them are black vultures. Can anyone confirm my
observation that the black jobbies seem to flap faster and have
less dihedral than their turkey cousins?
(While driving from Merida to Uxmal, we passed a dead horse on
the side of the road, surrounded by at least a hundred vultures.
Most of them were sitting on a fence, either waiting their turn
or digesting it. It was a stunning sight to see so many of them
on the ground. Hitchcock would have enjoyed it.)
--
Maurice Weitman ..!{dual,hplabs,lll-crg,ptsfa,glacier}!well!mo
| <this is not a pipe POBox 10019 Berkeley, CA 94709 (415)549-0280
NSA food: CIA + FBI + Reagan = terrorism Quote: "I'm not a crook." RMN
Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact or fact are transmission errors.gp@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) (06/30/87)
In article <3416@well.UUCP>, mo@well.UUCP (Maurice Weitman) writes: > Speaking about vultures, I've just returned from the Yucatan > where most of them are black vultures. Can anyone confirm my > observation that the black jobbies seem to flap faster and have > less dihedral than their turkey cousins? Voila!... You have just posted the most accurate way to distinguish between the two at any given distance. By the way, my apologies to the person who said black vultures have white heads. They really have black heads, but bright light can make them appear pale gray. Kind of like how a paved road looks whitish. > > (While driving from Merida to Uxmal, we passed a dead horse on > the side of the road, surrounded by at least a hundred vultures. > Most of them were sitting on a fence, either waiting their turn > or digesting it. It was a stunning sight to see so many of them > on the ground. Hitchcock would have enjoyed it.) Not to be gross, but I once heard of a cow giving birth in south Jersey, where the vultures (blacks) were sitting around in the trees waiting for the afterbirth. Well, the infant cow died while still in the birth canal, and the vultures commenced eating the infant.