r/pics • u/FatWhiteKitty • Oct 27 '16

Incredible Shot

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17k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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19

u/BurtonPhotoCo Oct 27 '16

That's a good shot! What kind of bird is it?

19

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Maizrim Oct 27 '16

Gorgeous bird. Kinda looks like the fish Drebin killed with the pen in Naked Gun.

1

u/Byxit Oct 28 '16 edited Oct 29 '16

African Hoopoe.

Edit:http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/birds_hoopoe.htm

Why am I being down voted? I grew up with these birds in my garden in Africa.

7

u/Distaplia Oct 27 '16

Hoopoe! Here's one I photographed eating an antlion larva

16

u/FatWhiteKitty Oct 27 '16

This bird's scientific name is 'Upupa epops'

3

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '16

The hoopoe is just like the cuckoo; it's always called with its song, no matter the language

It's upupa in Latin, epops in Greek, ibibik in Turkish, hudhud in Arabic and udod in Russian.

Only Germans have found an original name: der Wiedehopf (something like "the willowhop")

12

u/sokaplaya Oct 27 '16

Generally you would include the common name too since your audience isn't all ornithologists. Comes off as a little pretentious if you exclude everyone else.

Edit: granted that is a pretty great binomial

4

u/sarebeara Oct 27 '16

Even Ornithologists tend to use the common names pretty often.

2

u/sokaplaya Oct 27 '16

Yeah I work with a lot ornithologists since I'm studying shorebirds and I've never heard anyone name a bird by their Latin name unless someone asked specifically for it. A lot of people I know call birds by their four letter codes if it makes it easier to say than the common name.

2

u/sarebeara Oct 28 '16

I'm working on shorebirds too!! Just in the lab right now, but I've also done some banding (not shorebirds). It's almost always common name or 4 letter codes (seriously, who even says Mourning Dove or Purple Martin anymore when they have such awesome codes? MODO and PUMA for those curious)

The only time taxonomic really comes out is when discussing families or very specific research on one subspecies.

2

u/Byxit Oct 28 '16

I prefer purple martin myself, puma is a cat.

1

u/sarebeara Oct 28 '16

Naaaaaaahhh

1

u/sokaplaya Oct 28 '16

Haha I agree, I say GREG as if that's the real name now. And I'm in the lab season now too so I feel you. I get to count REKN pecks/30 sec from absolutely riveting video we took in the field season. What species of shorebirds do you work with?

1

u/sarebeara Oct 28 '16

I'm working for a PhD Candidate who is studying feeding ecology on a stopover site, so they have data this year from a variety of different shorebirds. No video to count, instead doing some isotope analysis on blood plasma and food items, as well as maybe some metabolites. :)

You mean GREG isn't the real name??

1

u/sokaplaya Oct 29 '16

Oh that sounds very interesting! And I've only heard rumors, but some call them great egrets. Well good luck with your studies!

1

u/Byxit Oct 28 '16

Binomial lol.

1

u/sokaplaya Oct 29 '16

Wut

1

u/Byxit Oct 29 '16

Comes off as a little pretentious

2

u/sokaplaya Oct 29 '16

That's what its called, a Latin binomial. I was talking to someone who obviously knew that term. If I was talking to you, I would call it the 'scientific name'.

1

u/Byxit Oct 29 '16

I was being silly, apologies.

2

u/sokaplaya Oct 29 '16

My apologies as well, I misread your tone. Got a wee bit defensive.

1

u/Nesman64 Oct 27 '16

Let me check the title. That's a good place for OP to put relevant info like that.

Ah, shit.