Photo: A floofy butterbutt sits on a branch at the U.S. Botanic Garden. This adorable birb is seen in D.C. in the winter.
When you start birding, there is a TON of new lingo. It can be kind of intimidating but once you pick it up, you feel like a real birder. Here are some of the words and phrases I’ve picked up the last few months:
Big Day/Big Year/Big Month, etc – an attempt to see as may birds as possible in that time frame
Birb – an adorably cute bird, like a Downy Woodpecker or a Carolina Chickadee
Borb – see floof. A fluffed up bird. Typically seen in winter
Butterbutt – nickname for the Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Floof – see borb. A floofy bird. Typically seen in winter
Flyway – lanes that migrating birds follow. Washington D.C. is on the Atlantic Flyway
Life List – the collective list of birds you’ve seen
Lifer – the first time you’ve seen a particular bird species and add it to your Life List
Migration – the undertaking that many species of birds take each year between breeding and wintering grounds; not all birds migrate
Nemesis Bird – a bird you really want to see, but just can’t seem to
Pelagic – taking a boat ride to bird on open water
Pishing – a sound birders make to try and draw out birds; it sounds like “psh psh psh”
Sexually Dimorphic – when males and females of the same species look different, like the Northern Cardinal or the Mallard
Spark Bird – a bird that sparks your interest in birding
Taxonomy – how birds are classified in the scientific naming system through a hierarchical approach
Vagrant or Accidental – a bird seen outside its normal range
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