Howard County Bird Club
A Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society
Glossary
Bins – Short for binoculars.
Breeders – Refers to those birds that breed in a geographic area. Resident birds breed here as well as migrants. Other migrants pass through Howard County while flying north to their annual breeding grounds.
Cavity nester – Birds that use natural tree cavities, bird boxes, and other manmade structures for nesting and raising young. Eastern Bluebirds are cavity nesters.
Coniferous – Generic term for evergreen trees that retain their leaves/needles year-round.
Clock directions – A way to help others find a bird by using the numbers on an analog clock to narrow down the bird’s location in a tree.
Crepuscular – Birds that are active at dusk and dawn.
Dabbler – Birds that feed by dabbling their bills in water or tipping up. Feeding behavior used by swans, geese, and some ducks. Distinguish from diving ducks (see “Diver”).
Deciduous – Generic term for broadleaf trees that drop their leaves in the fall.
Diurnal – Birds that are active during daylight. Opposite of nocturnal.
Diver – Birds that dive underwater from the surface of a pond, lake, or ocean for food. Feeding behavior used by loons, cormorants and most ducks. (Also see “Dabbler”)
Domesticated – A bird that has been adapted to a human environment. Usually, ducks and geese. Chickens were domesticated over 4,000 years ago!
Endemic – Native to or confined to a particular region. Yellow-billed Magpie is endemic to California. Maryland has no endemic species.
Feeder birds – Birds that are most likely to visit backyard feeders.
Field guide – Any written or otherwise accessed material that has photos or drawings and written descriptions of bird species. Usually a book, but also found on the internet and smartphone apps.
Fledgling – A recently hatched bird that has left the nest.
Flock – A group of birds of the same species or mixed species that band together for safety when feeding or migrating.
Flyover – Birds that are identified while in flight by their color, flight pattern, size, and shape.
Gateway bird – A species that leads to a lifelong passion for birding.
Habitat – The area or environment in which birds live or occur.
Hatch year – A bird hatched this year that has grown beyond the fledgling stage. Used to describe immature birds seen in fall and early spring.
Life list – A list of all the birds you have seen in your life. Time to get started!
Lifer – A new bird for your life list.
Lister – A person that keeps a list of birds seen in a geographic region, state, county, park or backyard or lifetime, year, month, etc.
Migrant – A bird that moves from one geographic region to another based on instinct.
Nest – Nests come in all shapes and sizes and are made from many diverse materials. Some are complex like the sock nest of Baltimore Oriole’s or as simple as laying an egg on a rock ledge like Turkey Vulture.
Nestling – A recently hatched bird that is out of its egg shell but still in the nest.
Nocturnal – Birds that are active at night. Most owls are nocturnal. Opposite of diurnal.
Ornithology – The scientific study of birds.
Peep – A generic term for small shorebirds.
Pelagic – Birds that spend most of their life at sea.
Perch – A place where a bird alights to rest, sing, or hunt.
Pellet – A small ball of undigested food parts that are regurgitated and expelled. Owls and some other species expel pellets.
Phylogenetic order – Scientific listing of organisms based on their natural evolutionary relationships. For birds, it is used for scientific listings and in most bird books.
Pish – A sound birders make to lure or draw songbirds out into the open. Sounds like pisshhh, pisshhh.
Plunge dive – Some birds hover above water and then plunge, head first, to catch prey in their bill. Feeding behavior used by terns, pelicans, and gannets. Osprey plunge dive legs first, snatching prey with their talons.
Range Map – Often found in field guides to illustrate the range a species inhabits during breeding season, migration, and on wintering grounds.
Rarity – Any bird that is unexpected at a time and place. Time to notify others!
Regurgitant – Partially digested food that is regurgitated into a young bird’s mouth. Feeding behavior used by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Mourning Doves among others.
Resident – Birds that do not migrate and can be seen in all months of the year. Northern Cardinals and many more are residents of Howard County.
Roost – A place where birds congregate to rest and sleep.
Seagull – A generic but inaccurate term for gulls since not all gulls are associated with oceans.
Seasons – The ornithological seasons are winter (December – February), spring (March – May), summer (June – July), and autumn (August – November).
Shorebird – A generic term for birds that live and feed along shorelines and mudflats (in Howard County, the area exposed when the water level drops).
Skywatch – Chandler S. Robbins SkyWatch at Mount Pleasant (Howard County Conservancy) with great views of migrating raptors.
Snag – Usually a limb or trunk of a tree that is branchless and leafless that serves as a perch for birds.
Spark bird – Like gateway bird, a species that leads to a lifelong passion for birding.
Taxonomy – The order of things; the classification of living organisms.
Talon – The claw of a bird of prey.
Tick – A new bird for your life list. Also an insect that carries infectious diseases.
Twitcher – A hard core birder that is focused on adding birds to their life list; British term.
Usual Suspects – Birds that are expected to be seen at a given location and time of year.
V formation – A flying technique used by geese, swans, and cormorants to conserve energy. A lovely sight to see!
Vagrant – Any bird that’s seen well outside its normal range.
Waterfowl – A generic term for any bird that spends most of its life on water. Swans, geese, and ducks are examples of waterfowl.
Whitewash – Not the stuff used by Tom Sawyer but waste from a bird that is usually white in nature. Seeing pellets and whitewash on the ground may indicate that an owl or other bird is roosting nearby.