|
August 17, 2006  What's In a Name? Who was it that asked the question - Shakespeare? The inference, of course, is that the quality of an item does not change even when given a different name. A rose by any other name, even called broccoli, is still a bouquet for the olfactory senses. How about bird names? Would it take away from the birding experience if their names were different? For example, the Yellow-rumped Warbler comes to mind because recently they've been bathing at the window water dish in droves, and in such close proximity that I am able to study the confusing plumage variations as I never could in the field. The Yellow-rumped Warblers are not alone in their watery cavorting. Mixed in are an assortment of Evening Grosbeaks, Western Tanagers, Orange-crowned Warblers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Townsend's Warblers, both species of Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Grey Jays. Often a curious Cassin's Vireo, or Ruby-crowned Kinglet will watch from the sidelines. More numerous than all the rest are the Yellow-rumped Warblers. I once peered from the window and saw five juvenile Yellow-rumped warblers lined up for a wash. As one bathed, four waited in anticipation, and a female Yellow Warbler stood back taking it all in. Like snowflakes, no two Yellow-rumped Warblers looked exactly alike. So cryptic are some of their plumage variations that some didn't even look like Yellow-rumped Warblers! In spring the Yellow-rumped Warbler dazzles. The male is blue-gray with black markings. His body features five blazing points of gold - the throat, the top of the head, either side of the breast and the spot that gives the species its name, the rump. The female is similarly marked but with more of an overall brownish colour and in some cases the five spots of gold are somewhat duller than the male. However, when autumn rolls around, Warblers change so much that fall Warbler identification is often cited as one of the causes of madness in birders. But here, eight feet from my front window how bad could it be? I am snugly tucked away in my house and feel quite safe from madness, so I begin noticing each Yellow-rumped Warbler that comes to the water dish - and there are plenty. Dozens and dozens drift by my viewing portal and only one comes anywhere close to looking like a male. And he, a wan, tattered specimen. The rest are cookie-cutter profiles of each other with variations of female plumage. Generally speaking, gray or tan to buff is now the base colour of the yellow-rumps. Heaped on top of their brindle colourations are all sorts of highlights and doodling. Some have pale wingbars, others do not. Some are streaky on the chest, while others are marked with long lines. Some show an eye ring, others none. Some markings are so befuddling that I must reach into my bag of tricks and resort to other bird identifying tactics. If I'm outside, or positioned by an open door, one of my best strategies is to listen for the diagnostic "vit" (the call note of a Yellow-rumped Warbler.) A useful memory tool might be 'Hear a vit, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler is it.' Granted, 'vits' are not often offered, so I keep a back-up identification plan, which is to watch for a yellow-rump. Yes, Yellow-rumped Warblers no matter how cryptically feathered, all have yellow-rumps. Although the other four points of gold that help spring identification are now white in most cases, the rumps do not lie. And so how hard is it to see the yellow rump of a Yellow-rumped Warbler? When perched the wings often hide the rear end, but at a water dish I found it the viewing surprisingly easy. As each Yellow-rumped Warbler took its turn in the water dish, (lured into deeper water by my yet-to-be-patented twig device,) it lifted its wings, bowed its head under water, then flipped up the spray, and inadvertently flashed its yellow rump patch. So what's in a name? In the case of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, once called Myrtle, and then the Audubon's Warblers, quite a bit. I have never been a fan of the name Yellow-rumped Warbler. I must begrudgingly admit that naming a bird after a trait found in all colour variations is a useful tool. As to whether a Yellow-rumped would smell as sweet if it had another name, the jury is still out. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
