Wandering Tattler: What's In A Name?
Bird names are funny things and, right now, the topic of heated debate. (Who would have thought.)
Most people, I hope, learn a few common names of birds from a young age, and are familiar with the general groups known as the sparrows, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, hummingbirds and the like. Hopefully most people are also aware that flycatchers, nuthatches, titmice, warblers, wrens and thrushes are birds as well, but perhaps not.
Some common names are wonderfully simple and descriptive: Bluebirds are endearing little blue songbirds, which come in the Western, Eastern and Mountain variety, for example. And there are plenty of blackbirds, like Red-winged and Yellow-headed, which are not to be confused with other black birds, like grackles and crows. Often, species' scientific binomials are equally descriptive... for those who know Latin! The brilliant red Vermilion Flycatcher, for example, is known as Pyrocephalus rubinus, which translates descriptively to "fire-head red."
Other birds are given common names based on sounds they make. Gray Catbirds are gray birds that emit curiously cat-like mewing noises. Northern Mockingbirds are so named for their ability to mimic or mock other birds and sounds they hear, and are the northerly-most occurring of the mockingbirds. Chickadees and flickers say their own name when they vocalize (or so someone thought when they named them!)
I mentioned that most folks are familiar with the name "sparrow," but if you call a bird a Dark-eyed Junco or Spotted Towhee (both types of sparrows), non-birders start to look more than a little bewildered.
And so we enter into the realm of obscure bird names that only birders know.
Skuas. Storm-petrels. Scoters.
Buffleheads. Trogons. Tattlers.
What are these strange-sounding creatures?
(If you guessed birds, specifically birds of North America, you are correct!)
The Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) is a shorebird closely related to Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as the Spotted Sandpiper. This tattler (one of two types of tattlers) has a widespread distribution around the margins of the vast Pacific Ocean, which earned it the name "wandering."
After breeding along rocky streams above timberline in the mountains of Alaska and northwest Canada, Wandering Tattlers range far and wide across the Pacific during the migration and winter seasons, turning up on rocky Pacific coasts from North America to Australia and islands in the South Pacific.
When approached too closely by a perceived threat, Wandering Tattlers erupt into flight with a loud, shrill call, "tattling" on the would-be predator by alerting other birds to its presence.
Thus, the common name of T. incana was born.
Watch for Wandering Tattlers along the Pacific Coast nearly year-round, but especially during the fall and spring migration periods. Keep a close eye on the rocks along the shore, where tattlers move with a distinctive teetering or bobbing motion, their gray backs blending into the rocky shoreline habitat they prefer.
Most people, I hope, learn a few common names of birds from a young age, and are familiar with the general groups known as the sparrows, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, hummingbirds and the like. Hopefully most people are also aware that flycatchers, nuthatches, titmice, warblers, wrens and thrushes are birds as well, but perhaps not.
Some common names are wonderfully simple and descriptive: Bluebirds are endearing little blue songbirds, which come in the Western, Eastern and Mountain variety, for example. And there are plenty of blackbirds, like Red-winged and Yellow-headed, which are not to be confused with other black birds, like grackles and crows. Often, species' scientific binomials are equally descriptive... for those who know Latin! The brilliant red Vermilion Flycatcher, for example, is known as Pyrocephalus rubinus, which translates descriptively to "fire-head red."
Other birds are given common names based on sounds they make. Gray Catbirds are gray birds that emit curiously cat-like mewing noises. Northern Mockingbirds are so named for their ability to mimic or mock other birds and sounds they hear, and are the northerly-most occurring of the mockingbirds. Chickadees and flickers say their own name when they vocalize (or so someone thought when they named them!)
I mentioned that most folks are familiar with the name "sparrow," but if you call a bird a Dark-eyed Junco or Spotted Towhee (both types of sparrows), non-birders start to look more than a little bewildered.
And so we enter into the realm of obscure bird names that only birders know.
Skuas. Storm-petrels. Scoters.
Buffleheads. Trogons. Tattlers.
What are these strange-sounding creatures?
(If you guessed birds, specifically birds of North America, you are correct!)
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| A Wandering Tattler checks out a pile of beach wrack (kelp and other matter washed ashore by waves) near Asilomar State Beach. |
The Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) is a shorebird closely related to Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as the Spotted Sandpiper. This tattler (one of two types of tattlers) has a widespread distribution around the margins of the vast Pacific Ocean, which earned it the name "wandering."
After breeding along rocky streams above timberline in the mountains of Alaska and northwest Canada, Wandering Tattlers range far and wide across the Pacific during the migration and winter seasons, turning up on rocky Pacific coasts from North America to Australia and islands in the South Pacific.
When approached too closely by a perceived threat, Wandering Tattlers erupt into flight with a loud, shrill call, "tattling" on the would-be predator by alerting other birds to its presence.
Thus, the common name of T. incana was born.
Watch for Wandering Tattlers along the Pacific Coast nearly year-round, but especially during the fall and spring migration periods. Keep a close eye on the rocks along the shore, where tattlers move with a distinctive teetering or bobbing motion, their gray backs blending into the rocky shoreline habitat they prefer.
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