Robert Francis undertook the task of ranking the greatest bird names of all time. The project involved going through the common names of more than 11,000 different bird species. A lot of birds already had notable common names long before they are studied, but you have to imagine naturalists and scientists having a hard time coming up with something both descriptive and unique.
Many birds are simply named for the way they look, like shining sunbeam, mouse-colored penduline tit, bearded mountaineer, and blue-footed booby. An awful lot are named for their call, which people have always tried to put words to. Some names we assume were assigned just because they are fun to say, like Stark's lark, chaco chachalaca, and bananaquit.
Then there are birds with names so bizarre that you have to find out the story behind them. These include diabolical nightjar, hoary puffleg, bared-faced go-away-bird, pipipi, and invisible rail. And those didn't even make the top ten! See all of the 100 best-named birds, plus dozens of honorable mentions at Bird History. -via Nag on the Lake
(Images from Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library)
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