For the birds: What is in a name?

The origin of English bird names is quite interesting.  Early naturalists and scientists who came to America named birds in North America.  Most of the birds they saw here looked like but were not the same as the birds from their homelands.  

Although we, Haudenosaunee, have names of our own for the many species of birds, for Europeans coming to Turtle Island in the first half of the century, these same birds were being discovered by them for the very first time.  At that time naturalists and scientists would name birds like warblers, thrushes and gulls after their peers.  This was quite an honor, and the person would usually return the favor by naming a bird after the fellow who used his name to name a bird.

John Gould, a Victorian bird artist has the most birds named after him.  There are over two-dozen birds that include petrels, finches, and several hummingbirds.  John Gould honored his wife by naming a bird after her - Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird.  The Sunbird is unrelated but like our hummingbird. It is found in Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific.  Bewick’s swan is named after the 18th-century engraver Thomas Bewick.  Bewick was also the author in 1797, of the first popular book on Britain birds.  The very rare Ross’s gull was named after James Clark Ross an Arctic explorer.

Here in America the Cedar Waxwings got their name from the red tips on their wings that look like the drops of sealed wax used years ago.  The Barn Owl is named because it likes to nest and live near barns. The same is true for the Barn Swallow.  The Barn Swallow prefers to build its nest under the eaves of barns.  Swallows all have the name Swallow following their first name because they catch insects and eat them in mid flight.  If you watch them, they appear to open their mouths and swallow insects as they fly.  Cliff swallows will find the edge of a cliff and build their mud nests in colonies.

There are also birds named for the sounds they make and their songs like the Chickadee who sings its name, “chick a dee dee dee.”  The Eastern Phoebe and the Says Phoebe sing, “fee bee”.”  The Mourning Dove is named for its low-pitched mourning cooing that can be heard at the start of March.  If you have ever heard the screech of a Screech Owl you would know exactly why it has that name.  The Catbird’s song actually sounds like the mewing of a cat.

Hummingbirds all have in their names humming because of the sound of their wings. This is truly an amazing bird. It is very small yet some of them make a 2,000 mile journey from Panama to Canada that includes a 500 mile non-stop flight when they cross the Gulf of Mexico. The Ruby throated - named for the male’s iridescent ruby colored throat - is the only Hummingbird that breeds in the Northeast.

During the period of 1707-1778, Carl Linneaus developed a system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms.  This system is the modern binomial system of nomenclature for plants and animals. Latin was the common language of the period, therefore many bird species still have Latin or Greek names.  Here in America, though, most of us know the birds by their more common names.  Some of these names describe the birds appearance, location, actions, and colors, as well as other things.  The Cooper’s hawk’s Latin name, Accipiter cooperii is a Latin word meaning hawk.  Therefore, it got its common name, Cooper, from its Latin name.

The Shoveler Duck is named for its shovel shaped bill.    Black-crowned Herons are named for their black “caps.”  The Great Gray Owl is named for its large size and its gray color. The Snowy Owl is named for its beautiful white color.  Blue Jays are named for their blue color and their call, which is a coarse drawn out Jaaaaaay.  The Oven Bird a small warbler, is named for the oven shaped nest it builds on the floor of the woods.  It also has a nick name - “Teacher Bird” named so for its call, which distinctly says, “teacher, teacher, teacher.”

Turkey Vultures are an interesting bird.  You can see them this time of the year circling around the sky with their wings forming a shallow V shape.  They are often mistaken for eagles with their 6-foot wingspan, which is close to that of the eagle.  While some say they are gross because they eat road and other kills, they are actually very clean.   Turkey in their name refers to the baldhead they have, which is red like a turkey’s head.   Their heads are featherless, so they can thrust them into the gut of a carcass without leaving a mess on their feathers. The bacteria die on their bald faces, and they release urine down their legs to clean off bacteria.  They help keep the countryside free of rotting animals.   They are the Creator’s natural garbage disposals.

Looking at the reason for the bird’s names can help us to understand and appreciate them.  Even the Mohawk names for birds are very interesting. The Red-winged Blackbird named for its red wing patch is called, tsiokwarise, which is the call you can hear it making all around Akwesasne.  There is even a Mohawk story about how it became leader of the marsh and received its patch. The Hummingbird’s Mohawk name is, raonaon, it is named for the humming sound its wings make in flight.