Subject: [Tweeters] Collective nouns for birds
Date: Mar 16 09:07:08 2006
From: Nancy - nelrjb at comcast.net


Hi tweeters
I found this on line and thought some of you might find it of interest.
Collective nouns for birds
There is a wide variety of words that describe groups of particular birds. Many of these words have their origins way back in the history, while others are recent additions. This page lists a good variety of these words.

Bitterns - sedge, siege
Capercaillies - tok
Choughs - chattering
Coots - commotion, covert, flock
Cormorants - flight
Cranes - herd, sedge, siege
Crows - hover, murder
Curlews - flock, head, herd, skein (when flying high over
long distances)
Dotterels - trip
Doves - flight, dole, pitying
Ducks - badelynge, brace (a pair), brood, flight, flush (group
rising from the water), gathering, raft, bunch, paddling
(party on water), safe (two ducks), sore (two ducks),
team (a brood of young ducks in flight)
Dunlin - flight (in air), fling (old gunners term), trip
Eagles - convocation
Falcons - cast
Finches - charm
Flamingos - skein (when flying)
Game - brace (two of any sort of game except pheasant),
brood
Geese - chevron (when flying in V-formation), flock (when
on the ground), gaggle (when on water), skein (when
flying), string, wedge (when flying)
Goldfinches - charm, chirk, chirm, chirrup, chryme
Goshawk - flight
Grey plover - trip
Grouse - covey (group of family size only), pack
Guillemot - loomery, bazaar
Gulls - colony, skein (when flying high over long distances)
Hawks - cast (two hawks, not necessarily a pair)
Hens - brood
Herons - sedge, siege
Hummingbirds - charm
Jackdaws - train
Jays - band, party
Lapwings - deceit, desert, skein (when flying high over long
distances)
Larks - flight, exaltation, bevy
Little auks - flight
Magpies - mischief, tiding
Mallards - flush (group rising from water), suite or sute,
puddling (group on water), team (when in flight),
sord (when in the air)
Merlin - leash
Nightingales - exultation, watch
Oystercatchers - parcel
Owls - parliament
Partridges - brace (two birds), covey (family group),
pack (large parties of more than one family)
Peafowl - muster, ostentation, pride
Penguin - rookery (nesting colony only)
Pheasants - bouquet (a general gathering), brood (a family),
eye (obsolete term meaning a brood of), nide, nye
Pigeons - flight (group in the air), flock
Plovers - congregation (when on the ground), wing
Pochard - bunch (small group on water), rush (in flight)
flight (when in the air), knob (small number on water),
Poultry - run
Quails - bevy, covey, flock
Ravens - unkindness
Redwing - crowd
Rooks - building, company, congregation, flock,
murmuration, rookery (nesting only)
Sea fowl - cloud
Shelducks - dopping
Snipe - walk (party on the ground), whisp or wisp (party in
the air), couple (two dead snipe)
Sparrows - host, tribe
Starlings - chattering, murmuration, flight, gathering, hosting,
roost (up to 1000 birds)
Stock doves - brace
Stork - mustering
Swallows - flight, herd
Swans - bank (group on the ground), bevy, herd, game,
eyrar (brood), team (swans with cygnets)
Teals - bunch (small group on water), flock, spring (small
number of 30-40)
Thrushes - mutation
Turkeys - rafter
Turtle doves - pitying
Waders - trip
Wigeon - bunch (small group of 30-40 on water), company,
flight (when in the air), knob, little knot (group, 10-12)
trip (group of 30-40)
Wild ducks - bunch, gang, pack, party, raft (when on water)
Wildfowl - plump (30-40), skein (in flight), trip (small
number), wedge (when flying)
Woodcocks - covey, fall, flight, flock
Woodpeckers - descent
Wrens - herd, chime
Source: Collective nouns for birds wildlife information factsheet (11/01