I thought I did'nt have anything to say about this topic until I started reading Robert Michael Pyle's "Mariposa Road" last night. It's a great read about his adventures on his own "butterfly big year" - traveling the country seeking out as many butterfly species as he could. As in his previous books it's a very entertaining and educational read. It's a great read for naturalist's in general - lots of tidbits about birds, plants, people, ( and beer).
In this book I did find the uncapitalized common names of birds and butterflies somewhat confusing, sometimes amusing. When writing a common name that has only descriptive terms such as yellow-bellied sapsucker (or marmot) ect. it is often unclear if it's a description of a thing or a name. Especially in a book where the author is as good as Pyle in painting pictures in words of the nuance's of color and texture and light found in nature.

My favorite uncapitalized name though was - wandering tattler. I know it's a bird, but could it be something else? Traveling gossip columnists was my first thought. Then I realized it was a name that would describe a great number of tweeters- many of us do wander around, telling on the things we see.

Jeff Gibson
Everett Wa.