Bird not-really-watching

[jbanana]

Who names birds - colour blind people?

• A small bird with a bright red face was eating from the feeder in the garden. Turns out it's a goldfinch. Not a "bright red face" finch, but a "tiny yellow bit on it's wing" finch.
• I often see pied wagtails. They are also called white wagtails because they are... black with a bit of white. I occasionally see grey wagtails. They're easy to tell from the others because they're... yellow. Both kinds wag their tails, so people who name birds have some things right.

Walking round the lake endlessly during lockdown, I've noticed that some mute swans are quite chatty. They make a sort of rasping honking noise. Maybe the bird namers are deaf too.

Comments

[low_delta]

The American goldfinch is mostly yellow, with black, and a little bit of white. I was surprised to learn that a bird that's mostly buff and white with black and a little bit of yellow and red, was a European goldfinch.