Cover art for Birds: What's in a Name
Published
New Holland, July 2025
ISBN
9781760796952
Format
Softcover, 224 pages
Dimensions
19cm × 14cm

Birds: What's in a Name From Accipiter to Zoothera. The Origin of Bird Names 2nd edition

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Due July 15, 2025.
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This entertaining and informative guide explains the meanings of bird names, many of which have fascinating origins and stories behind them.The universal system of scientific names, based largely on Greek and Latin, is used in all good bird books and assists birdwatchers around the world in figuring out exactly what they are looking at.

While some of the names are fairly self-explanatory such as Troglodytes for wren, meaning cave-dweller others are more mysterious Caprimulgus for nightjar, for example, meaning goat-sucker .Covering hundreds of bird species from around the world, Birds: What s In A Name? includes explanations of hundreds of scientific names and common names, as well as delivering a wealth of other facts and trivia relating to the species concerned. In short, it s the most readable and entertaining book on the subject available anywhere.Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard) The duck with the flat beak . Ixobrychus minutus (Little Bittern) Small reed bellower . Strigops habroptilus (Kakapo) A bird that looks like an owl, with soft feathers . Ptilonorhynchus violaceus (Satin Bowerbird) Violet bird with a feathered bill . Tachybaptus ruficollis (Little Grebe) Literally translated, this is the red-collared fast-sinker .

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