Odd Bird Names
January 15, 2009
Most of the time, a bird’s name is a good clue as to how to tell it from other birds. Think blue jay, a bird noted for its bright blue color, or goldfinch, whose bright yellow color makes it easy to identify.
But have you ever seen the red belly on the red-bellied woodpecker? Or the ring on a ring-necked duck? Or the semipalmations on a semipalmated plover? And what does semipalmated mean anyway?
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In the left-hand picture above, the red-bellied woodpecker is in its normal pose, belly up to a tree. One hardly ever sees them in a different situation, but sometimes, as in the right-hand picture you can get a glimpse of their red belly.
You might wonder why it was called the red-bellied woodpecker when it is almost impossible to see the red belly. The naming of most birds was done by early scientists as they looked at specimens in a museum collection. If one were to look at a drawer full of belly up woodpeckers, red-bellied might seem to be a perfectly reasonable name. But nowadays, with the popularity of birdwatching, binoculars, and field guides depicting birds in natural poses, the name seems a bit odd.
But at least the red-bellied woodpecker has a conspicuous red belly, when it chooses to display it. But how about the ring-necked duck? In the picture to the right (click to enlarge), the ring around the neck is barely visible. It is brown, narrow, and just above the chest. It is quite anticlimactic and not usually visible: this bird is alarmed and has its neck stretched. At least on the similarly-named ring-necked pheasant, the ring is bright white and contrasts with the green head and brown chest.
The last of our oddly-named birds is the semipalmated plover. This bird spends a lot of time walking on mud where it searches for small worms and other invertebrates to eat. The problem with walking on mud is that you run the risk of sinking in it. So the semipalmated plover has partially-webbed feet (hence the name semipalmated). The webbing is between the base of the toes and prevents the plover from sinking in the mud, but allow it to be agile enough to run across the mud to chase prey.
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Fishing Gull
January 5, 2009
Ed Guthro photographed this ring-billed gull with fishing line wound around its leg. It is unlikely that this bird will survive much longer if the free end of the line gets entangled. Perhaps a New Year’s resolution for all of us would be to leave a lighter footprint on the natural world.
The ring-billed gull is a very common inhabitant of North America and are commonly seen in urban areas such as mall parking lots and landfills.
