If I start painting hordes, sieges, charms…. Read this blog so you know what I mean. Collective nouns can also be applied to other animals.
A group of geese is called a horde or gaggle
A group of herons is called a siege,
And a group of finches is a charm,
A group of hawks is called a cast, kettle or cauldron,
And a grouping of snipe is called a wisp.
A group of swallows is called a flight,
And lots of chickens are called in brood, clutch or peep.
And there’s many more names as well! So I could be painting:
A parliament or wisdom of owls, (referring to hoity-toity politicians? Don’t you just love the English language and the use of words to describe mannerism?)
A murder of crows, (they are scavengers)
A colony of penguins
Or a chime of wrens.
A murmuration of starlings, (none of these huge flocks exist in Canberra, but we have the budgerigar that fits this description when the rain arrives further inland)
An ostentation of peacocks, (a “show off or parade” of peacocks)
And a ballet of swans, (the swan dance)
And for those of you overseas,
The decent of the woodpecker that travels down a tree.
And a group of quail is called a bevy.
A group of pheasants is called a Nye, (Sir Nigel, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1901)
Or how about a party or band of jays.
These words describe the specific species personalities and behaviour or their sounds, a chattering of choughs, but one can use a more generic term Flock of birds as one does with a group of people or dissimulation. As a general rule you’ll want to see more than three in your group and birds that are known to occur in huge numbers like a flamboyance of flamingos would require a little more birds to accurately describe because they occur in huge numbers on salt pans for breeding season. Bird characteristics are also used to describe humans for example everyone knows a “chatterbox”.
Have fun when bird watching and see if you can see why these birds are so named by watching their personalities and behaviours, a raft of ducks for example describes the birds gliding over the water’s surface and a fish pond owner knows why herons in numbers are a siege.
The next question you’ll ask is why they are in large numbers and this may be due to a variety of reasons like the Kettle of raptors at a carcasses or migration and seasonal changes.
In Australia the Corellas flock together when fires occur as do Seagulls when storms are brewing. So if bird behaviour changes, then you can be sure the local news or social media will have images or events to report for the abnormal is reported more often than the normal now with the advent of the internet.
Aboriginal communities are a lot closer to nature than some their stories of nest building higher than normal meaning the possible arrival of floods on river beds is well known. Abundant water leads to large flocks here.
Having no or only a few birds is also a question you may ask and the reasons for this are numerous for birds separate to raise their chicks in some species, they culled, they die from a variety of reasons- virus, parasites, poison and trauma from electricity wires and if pollution in the environment like oil spills happen the environment can’t support them. Climate change and literally freezing to death or dying of heat exhaustion is a well discussed topic. These factors are certainly a huge topic for a future blog that would have to include cars and domestic pets that is the effect of urbanisation, some adapt and some perish. There’s certainly lots you can do as an individual to help preserve birds so others can benefit in the future.
So you may ask what a Flock of Cockatoos is, and for me it would depend on the type of Cockatoo for they are all very different in behaviour and personality. A screech of Sulphur- crested Cockatoos may best describe a flock of these birds for they certainly are sociable and loud in groups. The Gang- gang is often a quiet observer occurring in smaller groups thus this description would not be appropriate for these cockatoos.
A flock of Ibis- or a congregation of Ibis? If you can find older books and literature to read on birds you will discover collective nouns that have changed and been replaced by others. Others remain that need to be researched to be understand and this is the same with medical terminology. Life has also changed and for some in our society observing bird life is not possible in this fast, built up modern society of ours. It has left a little less understanding in the world and nature around us, for to appreciate this you need to be able to experience it. Change however brings benefits as well and the written word, sketches and observation is replaced by photography, video and sound apps. Thus the secret language of Twitchers once understood perfectly can certainly create more mindfulness in this world, but it is certainly nice to experience a little more through modern technology.
With Art and Photography Australian birds Gallery both old and modern methods are used to create and share my work, for it is understanding, feeling and seeing these creatures that enable me to capture their personalities and characteristics in my artwork. Explaining this is a little more complex, I hope you too can enjoy Naming Flocks of birds as well.