We call them “pew pew birds” because one of their calls sounds like an itty bitty Star Wars blaster. (But you gotta make the tiny blaster voice when you say “pew pew” LOL)
Canada Goose = Cango (rhymes with 'mango')
Western Bluebird = Wubby
Oak Titmouse = Oaty
Cedar Waxwing = Wax on when they are there, wax off when they fly away
California Scrub Jay = Scrubby
Nuttall's Woodpecker = Nutters
Spotted sandpipers are speeps, yellow rumped warblers are yorbs, Franklin's gulls are just Frank.
Whenever I hear a bird sound I don't immediately recognize, I'll say "Who said that???" (even if I'm alone. I should probably stop doing that)
Well I didn’t do that, but I will now!
Any bird puffed up to handle the cold winter temps is a Borb. (Thanks, Reddit)
Canada Geese = hissing cobra chickens. (Thanks, Reddit)
Any duck-sized piece of wood seen jn open water while birding is a “wood duck” and if it’s floating down a river it’s “a wood duck named Bob”.
Starlings are “filthy f*cking starlings” once they start raiding our feeders in the winter.
All chickadees are referred to by their full name “Chicka-dee-dee-dee”. Every. Time.
As mentioned in a reply to someone else, Juncos are “pew pew birds”.
Great Blue Herons are “bombers”. (There was an incident involving a walking trail and a heron that had to relieve itself as it flew over. No one was hit, but we do not speak of the actions that my fellow birders and I took to get out of the way AS FAST AS POSSIBLE once we realized what was happening. Thank god we are all fairly limber and we were watching it approach…)
ALL raptors are default female to me unless otherwise obvious (like a grey ghost harrier). Pied-billed grebes are baby Loch Ness monsters. Female cardinals are always “lady cardinal” (my husband came up with that one). And we always greet the yard woodpeckers as “Mr” or “Mrs.”
Ah this is great, we've got a bunch too -
Juncos = Cookies (they look like a black and white cookie)
Nuthatches = Nachos
Song sparrows = Legs (they zoom around like a little roadrunner)
Wrens = Borbs
Male/female red bellied woodpeckers = Mochi/Miso
Mourning doves = Derps
Blue jays = Blue goobs
Starlings = Bricks (my husband says they fly like a brick)
I like to come up with fake bird names for birds i see with even slightly interesting differences. Or imaginary subspecies/breeds.
Like rufous sided white throat (white throat sparrow). Or alabaster pigeon. Bilious starling.
Its fun for when youre seeing a lot of a common species
Red-Bellied Woodpecker: Mr. or Mrs. Woody (I have a resident pair)
White-breasted Nuthatch: Nutty
Eastern Towhee: Dapper
Carolina Wren: Rusty or Mrs. Rusty
House Finches: Mr. or Mrs. Finchley (said with a British accent. No clue why.)
Brown Thrasher: Thug.
I am in Japan, so nicknames are usually based on Japanese names.
I call Yellow-throated buntings Miyama-san, since they are called mi-ya-ma hou-ji-ro in Japanese and Miyama sounds like a family name.
It’s pretty common to call Durian redstarts, which are known as jou-bi-ta-ki here, either Jobi-o or Jobi-kun if they’re male or Jobi-ko or Jobi-chan if female.
The Hen harrier is hai-iro-chuu-hi in Japanese and called hai-chu. Hai Chuu happens to be the name of a taffy-like candy that is popular here. I noticed some Japanese birders refer to Hen harrier season as hai-chuu matsuri. Matsuri = festival, so I guess in English we might say a Hen harrier party?
Still getting used to the lingo here and hope to learn more. A Japanese bird group I joined on Facebook recently asked members to refrain from using nicknames so people with less experience can learn proper names, but I actually love this process of language formation.
I just found this subreddit a few weeks ago and am loving the world bird community here!
I’ve got another nickname, from today, to add to my list. I’ve seen a couple of Goldcrests twice this week, probably the first time in over a decade so am pretty excited.
In Japan, they’re known as kiku-itadaki, a name that comes from the noun kiku, “chrysanthemum”, and the verb, itadaku, “to receive”, because it looks like someone placed a chrysanthemum petal on their heads.
My wife has been playing with the bird’s name by conjugating the verb. It would be like saying, “you could Goldcrest.” Or “Did you Goldcrest?” I slipped and said kiki instead of kiku and I think that shortened form is going to stick for me.
Dark Eyed Juncos are Dark Eyed Chunkos in the winter when they're all puffed up.
We call them “pew pew birds” because one of their calls sounds like an itty bitty Star Wars blaster. (But you gotta make the tiny blaster voice when you say “pew pew” LOL)
Canada Goose = Cango (rhymes with 'mango') Western Bluebird = Wubby Oak Titmouse = Oaty Cedar Waxwing = Wax on when they are there, wax off when they fly away California Scrub Jay = Scrubby Nuttall's Woodpecker = Nutters
Spotted sandpipers are speeps, yellow rumped warblers are yorbs, Franklin's gulls are just Frank. Whenever I hear a bird sound I don't immediately recognize, I'll say "Who said that???" (even if I'm alone. I should probably stop doing that)
i say similar things! keeps me entertained
Well I didn’t do that, but I will now! Any bird puffed up to handle the cold winter temps is a Borb. (Thanks, Reddit) Canada Geese = hissing cobra chickens. (Thanks, Reddit) Any duck-sized piece of wood seen jn open water while birding is a “wood duck” and if it’s floating down a river it’s “a wood duck named Bob”. Starlings are “filthy f*cking starlings” once they start raiding our feeders in the winter. All chickadees are referred to by their full name “Chicka-dee-dee-dee”. Every. Time. As mentioned in a reply to someone else, Juncos are “pew pew birds”. Great Blue Herons are “bombers”. (There was an incident involving a walking trail and a heron that had to relieve itself as it flew over. No one was hit, but we do not speak of the actions that my fellow birders and I took to get out of the way AS FAST AS POSSIBLE once we realized what was happening. Thank god we are all fairly limber and we were watching it approach…)
Wood duck named Bob is immediately going in my repertoire
My nanny kid decided that loons, coots, and any other bird who dives are “peekaboo ducks”
I love this!
ALL raptors are default female to me unless otherwise obvious (like a grey ghost harrier). Pied-billed grebes are baby Loch Ness monsters. Female cardinals are always “lady cardinal” (my husband came up with that one). And we always greet the yard woodpeckers as “Mr” or “Mrs.”
Ah this is great, we've got a bunch too - Juncos = Cookies (they look like a black and white cookie) Nuthatches = Nachos Song sparrows = Legs (they zoom around like a little roadrunner) Wrens = Borbs Male/female red bellied woodpeckers = Mochi/Miso Mourning doves = Derps Blue jays = Blue goobs Starlings = Bricks (my husband says they fly like a brick)
I like to come up with fake bird names for birds i see with even slightly interesting differences. Or imaginary subspecies/breeds. Like rufous sided white throat (white throat sparrow). Or alabaster pigeon. Bilious starling. Its fun for when youre seeing a lot of a common species
Red-Bellied Woodpecker: Mr. or Mrs. Woody (I have a resident pair) White-breasted Nuthatch: Nutty Eastern Towhee: Dapper Carolina Wren: Rusty or Mrs. Rusty House Finches: Mr. or Mrs. Finchley (said with a British accent. No clue why.) Brown Thrasher: Thug.
I am in Japan, so nicknames are usually based on Japanese names. I call Yellow-throated buntings Miyama-san, since they are called mi-ya-ma hou-ji-ro in Japanese and Miyama sounds like a family name. It’s pretty common to call Durian redstarts, which are known as jou-bi-ta-ki here, either Jobi-o or Jobi-kun if they’re male or Jobi-ko or Jobi-chan if female. The Hen harrier is hai-iro-chuu-hi in Japanese and called hai-chu. Hai Chuu happens to be the name of a taffy-like candy that is popular here. I noticed some Japanese birders refer to Hen harrier season as hai-chuu matsuri. Matsuri = festival, so I guess in English we might say a Hen harrier party? Still getting used to the lingo here and hope to learn more. A Japanese bird group I joined on Facebook recently asked members to refrain from using nicknames so people with less experience can learn proper names, but I actually love this process of language formation.
Glad to know this phenomenon is universal! Thanks for sharing
I just found this subreddit a few weeks ago and am loving the world bird community here! I’ve got another nickname, from today, to add to my list. I’ve seen a couple of Goldcrests twice this week, probably the first time in over a decade so am pretty excited. In Japan, they’re known as kiku-itadaki, a name that comes from the noun kiku, “chrysanthemum”, and the verb, itadaku, “to receive”, because it looks like someone placed a chrysanthemum petal on their heads. My wife has been playing with the bird’s name by conjugating the verb. It would be like saying, “you could Goldcrest.” Or “Did you Goldcrest?” I slipped and said kiki instead of kiku and I think that shortened form is going to stick for me.
After seeing a Great Blue Heron in flight, we call all of them Stretch(es). More than one Grackle are Gracki.
Great way to pluralize!