Archive for the 'Bird Word' Category

Lifer: the first ever time that a birder sees a species of bird it is called a ‘lifer’ or a ‘tick’.

Birders are like everyone else; they love to see new things - in their case it’s new birds.
Many birders keep a life list of all the birds they have ever […]

Immature: this is the stage of a bird’s life from when it fledges, or flies, until it is ready to breed.

Immature birds can be very confusing to identify. In many cases they have not yet developed their adult plumage. Good Field Guides will show these variations in the illustrations. In […]

Juvenile bird: a young fledged bird that has not yet reached sexual maturity.

One has to be careful with juvenile (or immature) birds. It can be tricky identifying them. This is because young birds recently out of the nest sometimes have non-adult plumage. Their colours and feather patterns can vary markedly […]

Mallee: this is a word I use often in my blog because I live in the Mallee districts of South Australia. Mallee is a group name for eucalypt trees which form dense scrublands and are usually found in arid or semi-arid parts of Australia. They are usually multi-trunked trees growing from a single underground stump […]

Life list: a list of birds a birder has seen in their life time. Many also keep year lists, month lists, week lists or day lists. Other lists include place lists, state lists, country lists, lists of birds seen on television, in movies, from their office window – in fact, this listing is limited only […]