And I wish someone would show me some purple on the Purple Finch!
I'm sorry...it is Raspberry colored...that's PINK ....not purple! It is a Raspberry Finch.
If the Goldfinch is gold and the Purple Finch is purple (or raspberry) why is our lovely red finch called a House Finch?? Why not a Red Finch?
When you look at a Red-Bellied Woodpecker......is that the description that comes to your mind?? WHAT red belly?? How often do we even notice the tiny little bit of red on its lower belly,....or even get a chance to see it??? I searched my photo files and this was the best one I could find showing it (and it is too dark)......right below the limb he is on. 
At least when I look at a Grosbeak, I can understand the name.....that is one "Gros"....Beak! I think I remember enough German to know that Gros=Large. I think it looks even larger on the female than the male.
The Catbird has whiskers, the Mockingbird mocks.......but a Titmouse???? What does that mean?? It is too pretty to be thought of as "mousy"! (Maybe someone who named one of her cats "Mouse" should delete this one .)
Why is a Downy....downy and a Hairy.....hairy?? They are identical except in size!
OK......I give up. Somebody in the "Department of Names" must have had a reason for all of this! .......and obviously I have nothing worth posting today :-)
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10 comments:
Too funny!! And true, too!! Your pictures are terrific and what you wrote is perfect!! I liked Mike's finch, too. Great looking bird. I think it should be called a red-faced or blushing goldfinch though! ;-)
I think your names are much better...both give the true nature of the bird! I'll assign you a job in the Department of Names (wherever that might be).
also Sandpiper....I should have linked to your site for a Red-belllied Woodpecker picture, because you had one yesterday that showed the red on the belly better than any I had.
Hi Mary, thanks for the mention, I know what you mean about the names some of these birds are given they dont make sense, your photos on the other hand do, some stunning shots here, very nice indeed.
Mary:
I wonder..
Does a gr-ackle have a gravely cackle?
Why does a Chickadee... dee, dee, dee?
Does a White-crowned walk with it royal head held high?
Does a Song Sparrow sing until evening is nigh?
Whatever their names,
Whatever they be...
I'm always happy when its them that I see... :-)
This was all just for fun. Your most enjoyable post inspired me :-)
Thank you Mike for the nice words on a really rather mundane posting...my birds are very boring right now at the feeders.
Me and My Camera,
That is great! You need to put it in your blog. I love it! You have them pegged to a tee :-) I like the image of the White Crown with its head held high! I wrote a poem about the different birds once....sort of on a junior high level....just descriptive couplets about the different birds. This reminds me a little of it. We think somewhat alike :-)
You're absolutely right about the bird names. Especially the raspberry finch. Of course they were named a long, long time ago--by men. We should be glad the American Ornithological Union doesn't change names any more than they do and we'd have to learn all new ones, like common moorhen for gallinule. Your pictures are all good and the post was terrific I thought
brucesc,...I sort of figured men had something to do with it. I know what sort of color perception the men in my family have :-) I would hate very much to learn new names...it took long enough to learn the ones that I know. When I visit my sister in Arizona it drives me nuts trying to remember things like Phainopepla and Pyrrhuloxia! We got off easy comparted to that! (I have to cheat and look those up every time)
You really have the most amazing birds at your feeder, and the name problem, well I have the same problem with the bird’s Norwegian names too, they often fit rather badly…
About putting a link in your post, it is rather easy:
Write the word (or string of words) you want to link from, like goldfinch. Mark the words. Above the area where you are writing there is a lot of symbols, between the T with colors and the tool for making the text orientate to left there is a strange symbol, click on this, in the little window that pops up, paste in the address for the page you want to link to. Press ok. You are done!
Hope this is understandable.
Mosefruen, Thank you very much! I hadn't even noticed that symbol or used it. I'm so glad you explained it! The only thing I knew to do was just put in the whole long string of the address by "copy and paste" method and I knew that was wrong. I will try this soon!
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