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Jan 8, 2015

A Cardinal by any other name...

Photo: undermyappletree.net
The Guardian newspaper in England has a regular bird identification feature. A recent entry asked readers to identify a molting Northern Cardinal, similar to the one pictured above, with the correct answer to be given two days later.   The follow-up description of the bird went on to say the Northern Cardinal goes by many other localized names.   The list included Common Cardinal, Red Cardinal, Arizona / Kentucky / Florida / Louisiana / San Lucas / Santa Gertrudis or Eastern Cardinal, Virginia Nightingale, Virginia Redbird, Cardinal Grosbeak, Crested Redbird and simply as the Redbird.   There are nine other official names for various species of Cardinals and those nine species probably have several localized nicknames.   There are approximately 10,000 common bird species names worldwide.   God only knows how many nicknames there are for those birds around the globe.
Please comment if you wish.
BtheB   

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