Friday 15 December 2017

hastings rarities or slaty white-throated fairy-bellied ground tyrant

In response to popular demand from bird-watchers (birder is the preferred term for those who take the activity seriously)—and given our tendency to give our avian encounters strange and elaborate names as it is, the creative team at Lewis and Quark (accompanied by the brilliant illustrations of Carin Powell) gave their neural network the task of generating plausible bird names.
We’ve probably set that bar pretty low. Some of course came out ridiculous but most came across as majestic and legitimate-sounding, like the Cape Babbler or the Red-capped Lynert’s Leafbird and turning the license up a few notches resulted in fine and rare specimens like the Dusky Sicky-faced Petrel, the Iceland Reedhaunter, the Fawn-bellied Flowerpecker and our favourites, the Slender-eared Chat and the Mountain-rumpting Finch. Which one among these would you consider ornithologically likely enough to be common-name of the next newly-discovered species of feathered-friend?