counting coots

This is the first in a short series of completely bizarre bird names. The ornithological equivalent of Moon Unit Zappa, or Zowie Bowie. For those pretentious taxanomists that cannot bear to let their moment of fame be wasted by the mundane.

While at Cley last summer, we purchased 'Whose Bird' by Bo Beolens and Michael Watkins which is a cracking read, basically outlining who the movers and shakers are in the history of bird nomenclature. There are the ones that are familiar to many birders, Forster, Steller, Yarrell, Cetti etc etc and many many more that are known only to a few (probably the peeps that have seen the species in question) and even Lucifer gets a namecheck. There are also some utterly strange ideas of what a good name for a bird would be, and so my first offering is...


Mrs Forbes-Watson’s Black-flycatcher (Melaenornis annamarulae)



No wonder it is more likely to be called Nimba - not the handiest name to shout out in the field...