Day 5 Sightings

Day 5

The Day of the Hyphenated Double-Barreled Names

While we were in England in June, we treated ourselves to two nights at the lovely "Twitchers Retreat" - a cosy little B&B in north-west Norfolk, specialising in catering for birders. So they have a beautiful bird-friendly garden with abundant bird-feeders and even an occupied barn-owl nest-box, which offered us sightings of lots of bird species we might not otherwise have seen, such as woodpeckers, jays, and the beautiful barn owls themselves. 

During our stay there, we spent a morning at Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve on the north coast of Norfolk, and saw plenty of wetland birds, including some adorable little juvenile avocets - like furry little balls on stilt-like legs!

I've tried to put together a list of all the birds we saw during our 4 weeks in England - it's definitely short a few waders (I can't remember exactly which ones we saw and which we didn't!) and maybe a few others I've forgotten, but I'm actually surprised by just how long the list is - I always considered the bird diversity in the UK to be quite poor compared to here! Maybe I just didn't take the time to look before...

1. Avocet

2. Spoonbill

3. Lapwing

4. Oystercatcher

5. Mallard

6. Coot

7. Moorhen

8. Shelduck

9. Goosander

10. Mute Swan

11. Cormorant

12. Egyptian Goose

13. Greylag goose

14. Canada Goose

15. Mute Swan

16. Great Crested Grebe

17. Grey Heron

18. Black-headed Gull

19. Common Tern

20. Kingfisher

21. Pied Wagtail

22. Jay

23. Magpie

24. Jackdaw

25. Starling

26. Reed bunting

27. Wren

28. Greenfinch

29. Chaffinch

30. Dunnock

31. House sparrow

32. Robin

33. Blackbird

34. Goldfinch

35. Bluetit

36. Great tit

37. Song thrush

38. Great spotted woodpecker

39. Barn owl

40. Woodpigeon

41. Collared Dove

42. Rock Dove

43. Pheasant

44. Red-legged Partridge

One thing that stands out for me, though, when I compare this list to our Namibian bird list, is the length of the names. Most of the British birds have simple, one-word names. But not the Namibian ones, oh no. Here, we like double-barreled, hyphenated, tongue-twisting names! The more descriptive, the better!

As an example, here are our sightings from Day 5 (20th July), all seen on our farm, Vreugde:

62.       Yellow-bellied Eromomela

63.       Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler

64.       Violet-eared Waxbill

65.       Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

66.       Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

This apparently lengthy naming is a result of the sheer diversity of bird species and sub-species across the vast and diverse African continent. Short names are simply not sufficient to describe this diversity. And in keeping with a standard international nomenclature (naming system), this means that related, but distinct, (sub-)species all have to be given related but distinct names, with the differences indicated using appropriately descriptive prefixes. The lesser bird diversity in the UK simply doesn't require such complicated and descriptive naming!

More soon!

Rachel