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Great potoo
Potoo is a name linked to the bird’s voice. The great potoo’s call often sounds raw and much less wordlike than the written name. Its upright position on a branch, with the head blending into the tree, is one reason a person may hear it well before seeing it.
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American bushtit
Bushtit is a name for a small bird often seen moving through shrubs or low trees. It looks especially tiny beside the plants around it. The name is an old-style combination of habitat and size rather than a description of its call.
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Long-wattled umbrellabird
The male carries a tuft over the bill that makes a rounded shade and a long fleshy wattle descending from his neck. The two details belong to the same bird, and both become difficult to overlook when a male displays. The name is almost a picture in words.
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Pied butcherbird
Pied describes the clear black-and-white pattern. The butcherbird name comes from how these birds hold or store food in a fork or on a sharp point. Its sweet, flute-like song is a surprise if that name is the first thing you learn about it.
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Tufted titmouse
The tuft is easy to see on the crown. The mouse in titmouse comes from an older bird word rather than the mammal that now comes to mind. The bird itself helps explain why a name can look stranger in modern English than it did when it developed.
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Horned screamer
A thin spike grows from the top of this bird’s head, so the horn is easy to understand in a side view. Screamer is for the powerful calls that travel across its wetland habitat. A distant listener can understand half the name long before seeing the bird.
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Ovenbird
The oven is on the ground. A domed nest of leaves and plant material with a side opening reminded people of an old oven. When you hear the loud song from the woods, the nest that gave the bird its name is usually somewhere out of sight.
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Bananaquit
The banana part makes sense when the bird visits ripe fruit or a garden with things to eat. The word quit is used in several Caribbean bird names. The bananaquit also probes flowers for nectar, so the food hinted at in the name is part of a wider diet.
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Magnificent frigatebird
Frigatebird takes the name of a sailing warship. You can see the association when this seabird pursues another bird until it drops its catch. A male’s red throat pouch is easier to spot when he displays than when he is airborne.
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Killdeer
The name is an imitation of a loud call that can sound like kill-deer. Listen near open ground, where the sharp repeated phrase carries a long way. The double band across the chest is a useful companion clue once you spot the bird.
More about Killdeer32
Eastern whip-poor-will
The three-part call repeats the rhythm of whip-poor-will over and over. A photograph can help place the bird among other nightjars, but a dusk recording makes this name instantly more intelligible.
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Chuck-will's-widow
The four-part rhythm supplies the name. The first chuck is softer than the rest and can be missed at a distance, which leaves a listener with a shortened version. It is a particularly good name to compare with whip-poor-will in two recordings.
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Great kiskadee
Read kiskadee aloud and you have a rough sketch of the loud, rhythmically shaped call. A large yellow belly and striped head help identify the bird when you see it. The sound does most of the work of explaining the name.
More about Great kiskadee35
Little auk
In North America the little auk also goes by dovekie, a name connected with its small, dove-like shape. In open water, the compact black-and-white profile gives it a different look from the pigeon the name might suggest.
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Spangled drongo
Pale spots flash against the dark feathers in favorable light, which gives the spangled part its point. Drongo is a bird name in its own right. Its Australian life as an insult came along later, so the bird inherited none of the clumsiness that meaning suggests.
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Noisy friarbird
The bare dark head and pale feathering around it gave people the outline of a friar’s head and clothing. The noisy part becomes clear when several birds call near a flowering tree. It is a name with separate clues for a good view and a good listen.
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