Bird Names

Birds can have the most exotic and beautiful names, and some I'd love to see simply because of their names. I'd love to see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker some time, or a California Quail, and what does a Hairy Woodpecker look like? Or a Bar-bellied Woodpecker? The Slender-billed Flufftail sounds beautiful, but I have no idea what it looks like. And what exactly is the difference between a Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner, a Rufous-tailed Foliage-gleaner, and a Rufous-rumped Foliage-gleaner? What's a Pilotbird? Or a Pipipi?

I know what Noddys look like, and yes I'd love to see them. That means more sailing... Then there is that great bird, the Blue-footed Booby, which really is Blue-footed, it looks wonderful, as wonderful as its name, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. There are so many different lapwings and plovers, again with the most fanciful names, and I know they generally look elegant and beautiful.

I know what an Inaccessible Island Rail looks like, I was very close to the place where it lives, but I am highly unlikely ever to get a chance to see it. The same is true for the Tristan Moorhen. They sound wonderful though. And I guess anything with a name containing Tristan, Nightingale, Inaccessible, Chatham, Gough, Kerguelen, Crozet sounds promising to me. I know where to find them, I've read about all these places, these remote islands, and I'd love to visit them all some time.



And I'm lucky, because I've already seem both the Flying and the Flightless Steamerduck. I've seen Avocets, some of the most beautiful birds I know, but I haven't seen the American Avocet yet. I've seen Black-legged Kittiwakes and heard them call their own name. I've seen the beautiful Adelie penguin at the place where it lives, and I have seen the mythological Wandering Albatross, the Sooty Albatross and that extraordinary Light-mantled Albatross. I've seen Wilson's Storm-Petrel, that tiny bird that lives on the roughest oceans of the world. I've seen White-crested Elaenias, Fire-eyed Diucons, even more beautifully described by the Dutch "Vuuroogmonjita". I've seen the Cape Bulbul, a lovely little bird, but I know there are many more Bulbuls out there. And I've seen the Thorn-tailed Rayadito, a small bird as beautiful as its name.



For some birds I know the Latin names, rather than the normal ones, like the Anhinga anhinga, commonly known as Anhinga (?), the Tadorna Tadorna, commonly known as the Common Shelduck, Nycticorax nycticorax, commonly known as the Black-crowned Night Heron (talk about a beautiful name), which I've seen on three continents.



There are nearly 10.000 different bird species in the world, and I've seen only a few of those. I'm not one of those birdwatchers who will chase species just to be able to add them to my list. There are some birds I would love to see though, because they intrigue me, because they look so beautiful on pictures I've seen or in documentaries, because they are part of literature or mythology, or simply because they have such a lovely name.

Then again, there are birds I can sit and watch over and over again. Seeing the first Godwits come back here in the spring, the first Swifts at the end of April, seeing Woodpeckers or Avocets, Stonechats or Wheatears will always make me happy. It's good to keep dreaming as well.